Old Friends
by Katrina
Summary: "And yet, even though it was frequently implied, they had never actually said anything about their feelings to each other. She was beginning to wonder if they ever would." LEE/AMANDA. An old friend helps Lee and Amanda investigate a case.
1. Breakthrough

**DISCLAIMER** "Scarecrow and Mrs. King" is copyrighted to Warner Brothers and Shoot the Moon Productions. We retain rights to the plot, but not the characters. This story is meant for enjoyment purposes only. No infringement is intended.

AUTHOR: Kate

SYNOPSIS: An old friend helps Lee and Amanda with a case.

TIMELINE: Somewhere during the latter part of the third season but doesn't conform to canon.

OLD FRIENDS

"Amanda, we've finally had a breakthrough on the Tremayne case," said Lee as he burst into the Q Bureau.

Amanda looked up from the report she was writing. "That's great. What did you find out?" she asked interestedly.

"Nothing…yet." Lee walked over and dropped yet another file on top of the large pile in front of her. She grimaced and sighed.

Oblivious to her exasperation, Lee picked up his letters and continued to talk. "I'm meeting with a guy tonight called Jerry Miller. He works for Tremayne at ChemiMed and says he has vital information that could help us."

"Tonight?" Amanda's face fell. "What time tonight?"

"Nine o' clock," replied Lee, sounding pleased with himself. He started to sift through his mail.

"Oh," said Amanda in a small voice. She looked down and tried to concentrate on her work.

Lee glanced up, surprised at her lack of enthusiasm. A look of dismay came over his face and he briefly closed his eyes as he remembered their plans. "Oh, Amanda. I'm sorry. We were going out to dinner tonight weren't we?" he said quietly.

Amanda looked at him with a small, hurt smile. "That's alright, I understand."

"No Amanda, it's not alright," Lee gently admonished. He put his letters down, walked around the desk and perched on the edge. Amanda gazed up at him as he took the pen out of her hand and laid it down. Taking her hands in his, he stared into her eyes. "I've let you down a couple of times this month due to work and..."

"Six times," cut in Amanda quietly.

"Six times?" repeated Lee incredulously. He shook his head in self-disgust. "Six times. I don't know why you put up with it Amanda."

She blushed slightly and looked down.

"Look, why don't you come with me tonight, hmm? ChemiMed is having a cocktail party and that's where I'm meeting Miller. It may be work but at least we'll be together," he urged with a smile.

Amanda smiled back at him. "OK, that would be nice."

"Good," he said, getting up. "I'll be over for you about eight, OK?"

Amanda nodded. "Oh, but don't forget you've got to get a loaner from the Agency pound first."

"What?!" Lee exclaimed, turning around to look at her. "Oh, don't tell me they haven't finished with my car yet?"

Amanda shrugged her shoulders. She knew how he was about his car. "Well, the garage said that if you want _every_ little scratch out, it's going to take a couple of days."

"A couple of da…Oh, that's just great," moaned Lee in frustration. He checked his watch. "OK, I'll let Billy know what's happening tonight and then go and see Leatherneck. With any luck he'll still have something."

As soon as he'd left, Amanda sighed and sat back in her chair staring thoughtfully at the door. Their relationship had changed in the last few months. It was only subtly, but there was definitely a change.

They had begun to have dinner together once in a while and she'd also noticed that Lee seemed more tolerant of her lately as well. Rather than losing his temper, she would often catch him smiling indulgently at her now.

And yet, even though it was frequently implied, they had never actually said anything about their feelings to each other. She was beginning to wonder if they ever would.

She knew without a doubt that she loved him and was almost as certain that he felt the same. In fact, they would often get close to admitting as such but then, at the last moment, either one or the other would pull back. She shook her head and smiled slightly at their reluctance to take the next step. She knew they'd both been hurt, but if one of them didn't give their relationship a nudge in the right direction soon, they would never move on.

With that thought in mind, Amanda mentally reviewed her wardrobe for something to wear for that evening. It had to be something special. Something that would make him take notice. She smiled as she remembered a dress she'd bought a short while ago but had never had the occasion or, if she were honest, the courage to wear. She checked the clock. Another hour and then she could leave.

END CHAPTER ONE


	2. Business and Pleasure

CHAPTER 2 – Business and Pleasure

When she got home, Amanda had a quick chat with her mother, who was on her way out to the cinema with the boys, then went upstairs to get showered and changed. Once dressed, she looked at herself critically in the mirror and sighed.

The red, full length dress she wore, clung to her body like a second skin. Its halter neck top added emphasis to the long, smooth curve of her neck where she'd put her hair up and allowed a few soft, curling wisps to frame her face. She wore matching shoes and picked up a small red, glittery purse to complete the outfit. To ward off the evening chill, she covered her bare shoulders with a thin black shawl. She was still debating her choice when the telephone rang.

"Hello," she greeted cheerfully when she picked up the receiver.

"Amanda, I'm just coming up to your house. Are you ready?"

She sighed in mock frustration. "Aren't you ever going to learn to say hello first?"

In the car Lee grinned. "Hello. Are you ready yet?"

He heard Amanda's soft laugh. "Yes, I'm ready. I'll meet you out the front."

"OK, bye," Lee replied before switching off his phone. Turning into Amanda's street, he pulled up a short distance away from her house and got out, straightening his tux before leaning against the car to wait for her. He was so lost deep in thought about the case, that he didn't hear Amanda's approach until she stopped in front of him.

"Hello," she said brightly. "You've got a broken tail light. I noticed it as you pulled up."

Lee glanced at her and then did a double take. He pushed himself away from the car and slowly looked her up and down.

Amanda blushed at his gaze and smoothed down her dress self-consciously. "Do I look alright?"

"Hmm? What?" he asked vaguely.

"I said, do I look alright?" repeated Amanda. She started to fidget nervously with her wrap.

Lee dragged his gaze back to Amanda's and cleared his throat loudly. "Uh, yeah. Yeah, you look fine." He half-smiled and opened the car door for her.

"Fine?" questioned Amanda, clearly disappointed. Feeling more than a little deflated at his response, she brushed past him muttering, "Thanks a lot."

Lee joined her and then quickly drove off down the road. Amanda stared out of the window in silence while he looked at her, sighing quietly. He'd overheard what she'd said and knew that she was upset with him. The problem was, he'd been trying really hard not to rush things because he thought that was how Amanda wanted it.

As they drove on, Lee's mind wandered back to the Colossus burger case and he grimaced slightly. Knowing how uncomfortable Amanda had always been with them sharing a room in the past while on other assignments, he had booked them into the Foxrun Motel as brother and sister. Even though he had dearly wanted to move their relationship on, he loved Amanda enough not to force the situation upon her. Imagine his surprise then, when she had turned up expecting to share the room with him. In fact she was even put out by the fact that they weren't.

Later that evening when she was going back to her room, he recalled how his feelings had got the better of him and he'd attempted to make a pass at her. From her reaction he soon realised that she wasn't ready for anything to progress between them. He'd felt a little hurt at her rebuff and as if sensing this, Amanda had invited him in for coffee. He would have accepted, if it wasn't for Francine turning up right on cue as usual. He knew that if he'd have gone into Amanda's room it would have been all around the Agency the next day and he didn't want to put Amanda through that.

Since then he'd made a conscious effort to keep it light and not come on too strong. He frowned slightly. What was it that Amanda had said to him once? "When you're talking about love, you have to be patient". Shaking his head, he glanced at her again and smiled. Looking like that, she was making it extremely difficult for him.

They stopped at a set of lights. "Hey," he said softly. Amanda turned and he smiled at her tenderly. "You look beautiful."

After a moment's hesitation, she smiled back and their eyes locked. As they stared at each other their smiles faded and, unable to stop himself, Lee slowly started to lean towards her.

Suddenly, the strident sound of a car horn blaring behind them made them both jump. "Damn," muttered Lee. He sat back and saw that the lights had changed. Sighing heavily, he turned his attention back to the road and swallowed hard. 'Forget difficult' he thought to himself wryly, 'try impossible'.

They continued their journey each lost in their own thoughts. Eventually, a little way out of town, they came to a tall grey building. After parking nearby they got out and walked over to the entrance. To one side of the revolving doors there was a large brass plaque reading 'ChemiMed Research Facility.'

"Well, here we go," said Lee, holding out his arm. After entering the foyer, they went over to the receptionist and Lee gave his name. She checked him off her list and pointed to the main hall where the party was in full swing.

Lee gave Amanda a reassuring smile and they entered. It was a large room with tables lining the walls and there was an area in the middle for dancing. Lee noticed several men looking interestedly at Amanda and felt the usual stab of jealous irritation stir within him.

The bar was to the left of them and he led Amanda over to get a drink. While waiting for their order, Lee scanned the crowded hall. "There's Tremayne," he said, gesturing across the room with a subtle tilt of his head.

Amanda turned and saw the short, plump, red-faced man that Lee was referring to. He was standing in a group, smoking a cigar and laughing at something someone had said.

Shaking her head, she whispered, "It's frightening. He looks like someone's uncle, not like someone who could be selling chemical weapons to the highest bidder."

"Well, we both know how much looks can deceive, don't we?" remarked Lee looking at her pointedly and making her blush. He looked back at the crowd. "I don't see Miller."

Amanda checked her watch. "Well, you still have another half an hour yet."

Lee nodded. "I know. I'd just feel happier if I knew he was here, that's all."

The barman returned with their drinks. "Thank you," Lee acknowledged. He took a sip and looked up to find the barman still standing there, grinning at Amanda. Lee glanced at her and then back to the barman. "I said, thank you," he pointed out curtly.

The barman's grin faded and he cleared his throat uncomfortably before turning away. Lee stared angrily after him for a few seconds and then turned to Amanda who was trying not to laugh. "What's so funny?" he inquired testily.

"Oh, nothing," she replied innocently. "I was just thinking how much your way of dealing with people was improving, that's all."

Seeing his disgruntled look, Amanda started to laugh. Lee stared at her for a few seconds before shaking his head resignedly and breaking into a grin himself.

"Come on, since you have time, would you like to dance?" Amanda asked. "I don't think you ever got to see me Cha-Cha did you?"

Lee laughed and held out his hand. "I don't think they're playing a Cha-Cha at the moment."

Amanda slipped her wrap off and put her hand in his. Lee led her out onto the dance floor and took her in his arms as they joined the other couples who were swaying slowly to a ballad that was playing. He placed his hand on her bare back and drew her close. Gently resting his cheek against hers, he breathed in the light scent of her perfume and sighed contentedly. "We really should do this more often," he said as he pulled back slightly to look at her. "Amanda, I really am sorry for letting you down so much recently."

She shrugged her shoulders. "Well, we can't help work."

"I know, but we could work around it better. I think it's about time we tried, don't you?"

Amanda gave him a sweet smile and nodded. "Oh yes," she said happily. "I do."

He grinned back at her and they continued to dance. After a while they made their way back to the bar and finished their drinks. Lee looked around and suddenly nodded to a man over the other side of the room.

He turned to Amanda. "Alright, there's Miller. I'll get this meeting over with and then we can go to dinner." She looked at him in surprise and he smiled. "Might as well start as we mean to go on." He gave her a quick wink and sauntered off.

Amanda watched him walk out of sight then turned on her stool and rested her arms on the bar. She looked down and fiddled with her empty glass.

Behind her, a man quietly walked up and gently laid a hand on her shoulder. Amanda jumped and went to turn around but a voice stopped her. "No, don't turn around Amanda." He paused. "Do you remember the last time I said that to you?"

Amanda's mouth had dropped open at the first sound of the voice but then it soon changed into to smile. She turned, and after a moment's hesitation, flung her arms around the neck of the young, dark-haired man standing behind her. He laughed and hugged her back. She pulled away slightly and they stood smiling at each other for a few seconds before moving to a table to sit down.

END CHAPTER TWO


	3. Old Friends

CHAPTER 3 – Old Friends

Lee entered Miller's cramped, untidy office and sat down opposite him. "OK, Mr. Miller. What can I do for you?"

Jerry Miller was a small, wiry man with mousy coloured hair. He nervously pulled on his collar before whispering, "I need your assurance that no one will find out I've talked to you."

Lee smiled confidently. "Mr. Miller, it's my job to keep secrets."

"I know. I'm just a little nervous that's all. I've never done anything like this before."

Lee nodded. "What is it you wanted to tell me?"

Miller produced a briefcase and opened it up. He rummaged about inside and took out a floppy disk. "Here." He handed it to Lee. "I got this from Mr. Tremayne's office. It's proof that he's selling harmful chemicals for use in warfare. It's not everything, but it should be enough for you to charge him."

Lee took the disk and put it into his inside pocket. "Thanks. This is just the break we need. He's been covering himself pretty well."

Miller pulled on his collar again. "Mr. Stetson, Mr. Tremayne has just assigned a new man to take care of security and I'm a little worried that he'll find out I've contacted you. I've heard that he captured a notorious international killer, single-handed, about a year ago."

"Mr. Miller, I can assure you that no one knows about our meeting except you and me," soothed Lee.

Just then, there was a noise outside and Miller looked around worriedly. "What was that?"

Lee held up his hand for silence then got up and walked over to the door, opening it slowly. He popped his head out and saw that the corridor was empty. Breathing a sigh of relief, he looked back at Miller. "It's clear. Give me a few minutes and then you can leave, okay?"

Miller nodded and Lee slipped out to make his way back to the party. As he rounded a corner he bumped into a dark-haired, thickset man with bushy eyebrows and a moustache. Lee excused himself and carried on walking. The man watched him go out of sight and then turned as Miller came around the corner.

"Oh, Mr. Burgess," gasped Miller startled. "I…I thought you were out of town."

"I was," came the clipped reply.

Miller swallowed nervously and cautiously edged past him continuing down the corridor. "I'll see you at the party then," he called back over his shoulder.

Through narrowed eyes, Burgess watched Miller rapidly walk away. Checking his coat for his gun, he then followed him.

*********************************

Lee walked into the busy room and looked for Amanda. She wasn't at the bar so he turned towards the tables and saw her sitting with a man who had his back to him. As he stood watching them, he saw Amanda smile and the man take a hold of her hand. Lee's mouth tightened grimly and he quickly strode over to them.

As he reached the table, Amanda looked up in surprise and smiled. He glared back and turned to the man, ready to have an argument. He stopped and stared in disbelief as the man stood up and held out his hand, smiling. "Lee! It's good to see you again. How have you been?"

"Oh my God," groaned Lee. "I don't believe it. Conrad Walter Barnhill. What the hell are you doing here?"

Conrad's smile faded and he reddened.

"Lee!" exclaimed Amanda.

He looked at her and she frowned. Lee sighed and took hold of Conrad's proffered hand. "Sorry Conrad, it's just that you were the last person I expected to see."

They sat down and Conrad shrugged his shoulders. "That's okay Lee, I understand. I mean, the last time we met I guess I did cause you a lot of trouble."

"Yeah," agreed Lee dryly. He folded his arms unhappily. All he wanted to do was take Amanda somewhere quiet for dinner so they could talk. He didn't want to sit here and pretend to be having a good time, especially with Conrad Barnhill of all people.

Conrad glanced around surreptitiously and leant forward. "So, are you two on a case?" he asked hopefully, in a low voice.

"No," they replied in unison.

"A friend of mine invited us...," began Amanda.

"Our boss had two spare tickets...," said Lee at the same time.

They stopped looked at each other. Amanda smiled apologetically and Lee gave a long suffering sigh. One day they were going to get that right.

"It's alright. I know you can't tell me anything," whispered Conrad and gave them a knowing wink.

Lee changed the subject. "What about you Conrad. Why are you here?" he asked trying to be civil.

"Oh, I've just started working for Mr. Tremayne," he answered importantly.

"Really," remarked Lee in a bored voice. Suddenly, recalling Miller's words, Lee's eyes narrowed suspiciously at the other man as things fell into place. "Oh, wait a minute. Don't tell me. You've taken over security, right?" he asked, already knowing the answer.

Conrad looked at him in surprise. "Well, yeah. How did you know?"

"Wild guess," commented Lee sardonically.

Conrad gave him a puzzled look, then shrugged and smiled. "Yeah, well, I really should thank you and Amanda for getting me into the business. I mean, it was because I had such a great time with you guys that I've got my own detective agency you know."

"Your own _what_?" asked Lee after a moment's stunned silence.

"Well, it's not actually _all_ mine," Conrad replied awkwardly. "I just own half of it."

"Oh Connie, that work can be dangerous," Amanda said in concern. "Are you sure you know what you're doing?"

"Oh yeah. Besides I don't actually do the work itself, I just arrange the deals. My partner does all the hiring and leg work. You see, I got so much money for those interviews that I did about the capture of the Mongoose, that I went into partnership with a guy who had his own agency. He was in a bit of financial trouble so I bailed him out and now with the help of my reputation we have quite a good business going. At the moment, we're doing background checks on the staff here for Mr. Tremayne. If anyone has a dubious past we have to let him know." He winked at them slyly. "We wouldn't want anyone selling secrets to the other side, now would we," he said laughing.

Lee shook his head in disbelief. "I think I've heard it all now," he muttered.

"Hey, why don't I get us some drinks and we can reminisce some more, huh?" suggested Conrad eagerly. Before they could say anything, he had got up and walked over to the bar.

Amanda grabbed Lee's arm. "What did you find out at your meeting?" she whispered.

"Miller gave me a disk. He says it's got information on it that should help us nail Tremayne," replied Lee in a low voice.

"That's great." Amanda paused. "What are we going to do about Connie? I mean, he obviously doesn't know what's going on here. He could end up in a dangerous situation if he found out."

"We're not going to do anything," said Lee giving her a stern look. "You heard him, he doesn't actually do the work. As long as it stays that way, he'll be fine."

Amanda sighed. "But Lee, you know how Conrad has a way of getting into trouble."

Lee looked at her and raised his eyebrows. "Yeah, tell me about it," he commented wryly.

Their conversation was cut short by Conrad coming back with a tray of drinks. "Here we are." He sat down and raised his glass. "To old friends," he toasted, looking adoringly at Amanda.

"Old friends," they replied and all touched glasses. They chatted for a while and finished their drinks. Noticing their empty glasses, Conrad said he would go and get some more but Lee stopped him.

"Ah, thank you Conrad, but Amanda and I have to go," Lee stated firmly. He stood up and looked at her expectantly.

Amanda quickly got to her feet. "Oh, yeah, I'm sorry Connie. It was good to see you again."

"It was good to see the both of you. It's a shame you have to go so soon," said Conrad getting up as well. He fished around in his pockets and pulled out a card, handing it to Amanda. "If you want to meet for dinner or anything Amanda, just give me a call," he offered, smiling at her shyly.

She took the card and glanced at Lee who, judging by the look on his face, wasn't at all pleased with Conrad's suggestion. She laughed self-consciously, "Uh, thank you Connie. I'll, uh, keep that in mind."

They said their goodbyes and Lee and Amanda walked away.

Across the room, Burgess walked over to Tremayne who pulled him to one side. "Have you taken care of things?" Tremayne inquired.

"Yeah. But I was too late. I couldn't find the disk." Burgess gestured towards Lee and Amanda who were just walking out of the door. "Miller was talking to that guy over there. He may have given it to him."

"Then what are you standing here for? Follow him and find out if he has the disk."

Burgess nodded and turned to go but Tremayne grabbed his arm and stopped him. "Remember, I don't care what it takes. If he refuses to co-operate, kill him."

Burgess walked out of the room and Tremayne chewed angrily on his cigar. He'd come too far to let anyone stop him now.

END CHAPTER THREE


	4. Bad Accident

CHAPTER 4 – Bad Accident

Lee and Amanda got into their car and started off down the street. Looking in his mirror, Lee noticed a car pull out behind them and frowned slightly.

"What's the matter?" asked Amanda.

Lee looked over at her and smiled. "Nothing."

"I'm not going to call Conrad, if that's what you're worried about," Amanda assured him as she lightly placed her hand on his arm.

"I know," said Lee still concentrating on the other car. He made a turn and checked his mirror again. It was still there.

"Well, I must say, you're very confident aren't you?" stated Amanda in amusement.

"Huh?" queried Lee absently, glancing in his mirror.

Amanda sighed. "Never mind." She settled back in her seat and looked at him in anticipation. "So, where are you taking me for dinner?"

"Dinner?" repeated Lee. He had forgotten all about their date in his concern about the tail.

"Yeah, dinner." She looked at him and frowned. "Are you OK? You don't seem to be listening to anything I'm saying."

"Amanda, we've got a tail."

"What?!" she exclaimed, turning to look.

"Hold on, I'm going to try and lose him."

He floored the gas pedal and rapidly accelerated away. Behind him Burgess cursed and followed suit. They sped down the main street weaving in and out of the traffic. "I wish I had my car," muttered Lee under his breath. He saw a turning on the right and quickly spun the wheel, cutting across the front of another vehicle.

The turn was too quick for Burgess and he swore again as he was forced to continue straight ahead. Lee tore down the side street and took another turning before looking in his mirror again. There was no sign of the other car.

"I think we lost them," said Lee triumphantly.

"We did? That's great," replied Amanda in relief. "He must have been after the disk."

"Oh I don't know, he may have just wanted to tell me about that broken tail light" joked Lee as he grinned at her and winked.

Amanda tutted and shook her head trying not to smile.

Lee slowed down and, keeping a lookout, made his way back to Amanda's house. She thanked him for the evening and asked him in for coffee, but he declined.

"I'd better get back home." He patted his jacket pocket. "Now I have this, I want to make an early start on it tomorrow." He smiled and gave her a quick peck on the cheek.

Amanda smiled back shyly and bade him goodnight. He watched until she was safely inside and then pulled away.

Lee slowly drove back to the main street and headed for home only to have a car suddenly speed right up behind him. Looking in his mirror, Lee groaned in disbelief as he realised that it was the same car that was tailing him before. "How the hell? You just don't give up, do you buddy," he muttered to himself as he increased his own speed.

Burgess couldn't believe his luck. He'd been just about ready to go back to ChemiMed when Lee had pulled right out in front of him. He wasn't going to let him get away this time.

The chase continued down the street but Lee couldn't shake him. He skidded into a side alley and Burgess followed getting closer every second. Lee was running out of options and decided to head back to the main street to try and lose himself in traffic. He shot out into the middle of the road and straight into the path of an oncoming truck.

Pure instinct made him turn the wheel to swerve out of the way but he wasn't quick enough. The truck hit the back of his car causing him to spin out of control and plough head on into a vehicle that was parked at the side of the road.

Burgess pulled up nearby and ran over to the battered car. He yanked open the door and found Lee slumped over the wheel. After pulling Lee's prone body back against the seat Burgess quickly searched him. He found the disk and straightened up as the truck driver came running over.

"Is he OK?" asked the guy worriedly. He looked in, gasping when he saw the nasty bruising on Lee's deathly pale face and the trickle of blood that was running out of the side of his mouth.

Burgess shook his head. "I think he's dead."

*****************

After giving a vague statement to the police, Burgess now stood watching the ambulance as it sped off down the street with its sirens wailing and lights flashing. Much to his disappointment Lee hadn't been dead although he had still been unconscious when the ambulance had driven away.

Burgess had found out which hospital he was being taken to and taking one last puff of his cigarette, threw it to the ground before slowly getting into his car and heading back to ChemiMed.

He entered the building and, ignoring the hall where the party was still going on, made his way through a side corridor to a back office. He knocked and walked in. Tremayne was seated behind a desk with thick clouds of cigar smoke swirling around his head. Two men were sat on a couch to the left of him.

"Well?" queried Tremayne.

"I've got the disk," replied Burgess pulling it out of his pocket. He placed it on the desk and flopped into a chair.

"And the other problem?"

Burgess shrugged his shoulders. "There was a nasty car accident."

"Good," said Tremayne picking the disk up. He looked over to the two men. "Mr. Lambert, I trust that you won't let this happen again will you?"

The young fair haired man looked up and smiled nervously. "Of course not Mr. Tremayne. I still don't know how Miller got hold of it in the first place. I'm very sorry Sir. This time I'll be extra careful."

Tremayne nodded. "OK, you can go now."

Lambert got up and walked over to the door.

"Oh, Mr. Lambert, just one more thing," called Tremayne.

"Yes Sir?" asked Lambert turning to him. His eyes widened and he cried out as a bullet entered his chest. He put his hand over the gaping wound and slowly sunk to the ground, his breathing laboured.

Tremayne put the gun back into his drawer and walked over to him. He bent down and smiled nastily. "You should have been extra careful in the first place."

Lambert's eyes slowly closed and he took one last shuddering breath before he died. Tremayne looked at Burgess. "Get rid of the mess," he ordered dismissively.

Burgess nodded and walked over to the door. After checking that no one was about he dragged Lambert's body out of the room.

Tremayne turned to the man who was still sitting on the couch. "Well, Mr. Randall it would appear that an opening for the position of my Personal Assistant has become available." He held out his hand. "Congratulations on your promotion."

Randall swallowed hard and stood up. "Th-thank you Sir," he stammered, shaking hands. "I-I shall do my very b-best."

"I know you will son," Tremayne replied, pinning him with a menacing stare. "I know you will."

END CHAPTER FOUR


	5. Bad Patient

CHAPTER 5 – Bad Patient

Amanda rushed into the kitchen calling out a good morning to her mother and the boys. She poured a cup of coffee and got herself a bowl of cereal. Dotty walked over and stood watching as Amanda munched through her breakfast as quickly as she could and finished her drink.

"Amanda, you shouldn't rush your food like that," scolded her mother sternly.

"I know mother, it's just that I have to be in early today. There's a lot of work to do in the editing room," the brunette explained quickly.

"Amanda, there is always a lot of work for you to do at that place. You know, you shouldn't let them take advantage of your good nature," Dotty told her pointedly.

"They don't take advantage mother, I really like my job," replied Amanda giving her a quick hug. "I shouldn't be back too late."

She went over to the boys and putting her arms around their shoulders, gave them a quick kiss each. "Now, you be good for your grandmother OK?"

"Yeah," they replied together.

She gave them another quick kiss then trotted over to the closet and took out her coat. The telephone rang just as she put her hand on the door handle to leave.

"Amanda," called out Dotty. "There's a Mr. Melrose on the phone for you. He says it's urgent."

Amanda spun around in surprise and rushed back into the kitchen. "Thank you mother." She waited until Dotty had moved away and put the receiver to her ear. "Hello Sir."

"Amanda, I'm glad I caught you," began Billy. He paused slightly before carrying on. "I'm, uh, I'm afraid I have some bad news."

"Bad news?" repeated Amanda slowly. "What do you mean bad news?" She held her breath dreading what Billy was about to say.

"It's about Lee, Amanda," replied Billy, confirming her fears. "He was involved in a car accident last night."

"What," gasped Amanda. "How bad was the accident? Is he hurt?"

"Now, don't worry Amanda," Billy hastened to reassure her. "I spoke with his doctor early morning and he said Lee was unconscious but stable. I'm just on my way over to the hospital now. Do you want to meet me there?"

"Oh, yes Sir, of course I will," Amanda replied. She made a note of the hospital and room number then replaced the receiver. Bowing her head, the realisation of what Billy had told her slowly sank in. 'Please let Lee be alright,' she thought to herself anxiously.

"What's happened Amanda?" queried Dotty in concern.

Amanda took a deep breath and turned around. "It's my boss mother. He was in a car accident last night."

"Oh no," exclaimed Dotty. "Well, is he going to be alright? Is it serious?"

"I don't know, he's unconscious." She raised a shaking hand to her forehead and looked around. "Uh, do you know where I put my car keys? I really have to get to the hospital."

"Here they are Mum," said Philip, picking them up off the table and holding them out.

"Oh, thank you sweetheart." Taking them, Amanda hugged Philip tightly then turned and hurriedly walked over to the door. "I'll call you later mother," she called out.

By the time Dotty acknowledged her, Amanda had already left the house. Sighing, she went back to the kitchen and made Philip and Jaime finish their breakfasts while she cleaned up.

Dotty had always suspected that Amanda was interested in someone at work. It wasn't until now however, having seen how much Amanda was affected by the news of his accident, that she realised it was her boss. She shook her head sadly and prayed that everything would be alright.

xxxxxxxxxxx

Amanda entered Galilee General Hospital and quickly walked over to the elevator. She got out on the third floor and made her way to room 314. Remembering they were followed the night before she'd realised that this probably wasn't just a normal accident. Something must have happened when Lee left her the previous night.

As she neared the door to his room she noticed a guard outside and slowed down to show him her ID. He nodded and Amanda took a deep breath as she braced herself for what she was going to find within. Just as she was about to enter, the door opened.

A homely middle-aged nurse stood in the doorway, looking back into the room. "Well really! I have never been insulted so much in my entire life," she exclaimed indignantly in a strong Scottish accent.

"I find that extremely hard to believe," came Lee's angry voice from inside the room.

"I'm going to get my superior and she'll soon make sure that you have that medication. You mark my words, she'll not take any rubbish from you," the nurse informed him curtly.

Both the nurse and Amanda reddened when they heard his retort. After slamming the door shut the nurse looked at Amanda. "I shouldn't go in there, lass. He's got a mean temper, that one."

"I'll take a chance," she replied smiling in relief. It appeared Lee was awake and well enough to already be in a bad mood.

The nurse gave her a sympathetic pat on the arm and bustled off down the corridor shaking her head.

Amanda stood at the door for a few seconds composing herself. The smile of relief faded and she felt a few unbidden tears spring to her eyes. However he had sounded, she was just grateful to hear Lee's voice again. Quickly wiping the tears away she grabbed the door handle and went into the room.

"I've already told you. I won't take…," began Lee angrily. He stopped when he saw it was Amanda and scowled. "Oh, it's you." Amanda stood and stared at him. Lee was propped up in bed with his right arm in a sling, his face was covered with bruises and he had a rather large swollen bottom lip. Despite the latter he was still able to manage a reasonable pout.

Unable to stop herself, she started to grin at the look on his face. She knew he hated hospitals and how they always brought out the worst in him.

"What are you smiling at?" he snapped, irritably.

"Oh nothing Lee, I'm just so glad you're feeling better. Mr. Melrose said you were still unconscious." Amanda walked over to the bed and perched on the edge taking a hold of his hand. "I was so worried, I came as soon as I heard."

"Feeling better? Amanda, you know I won't feel better until I get out of this place," he said, gesturing around the room in disgust.

"Yeah, I know," she agreed quietly. She reached out and gently brushed his hair away from his forehead grimacing. "Ooo, that looks nasty," she commented. "And what happened to your arm?"

"I dislocated my shoulder."

"Oh, that must be painful," said Amanda sympathetically.

"It hurts like hell," he replied miserably. Amanda nodded and got up to start arranging his pillows while he continued to moan. "But do you know what the worst part is, Amanda? It's these damned nurses. They won't leave me alone. They keep coming in here always trying to make me take stuff and re-arranging my pillows. I tell you it just gets on my nerves, you know I hate being fussed over." Amanda stopped fluffing the pillows and looked at him, smiling awkwardly. "Sorry," she said moving to sit in a chair.

Realising what he'd said, he grabbed hold of her hand and, smiling uncomfortably, cleared his throat. "No, Amanda don't apologise. I'm the one who should be saying sorry. I'm just not at my best at the moment. You know how I get in these places." He pulled her gently back to sit on the bed.

"Yeah, I know how you get in these places," she assured him, returning his smile. She sobered and stared at him in concern. "This wasn't an accident was it Lee? What happened after you left last night?"

"Oh, that tail caught up with me again. I couldn't shake him and ended up smashing into a parked car. When I came around this morning, I got up and checked my jacket but the disk was gone. He must have taken it after I crashed."

"Well, I'm just glad that you weren't more seriously hurt that's all. And I don't really think you should have got up in your condition...," Amanda chided worriedly.

"Amanda please," cut in Lee. "I'm grateful for your concern believe me, but I'm more interested in who that guy was who chased me last night."

"That's exactly what I'm interested in too, Scarecrow," remarked Billy walking through the door closely followed by Francine.

"Oh, hello Sir. Francine," greeted Amanda, quickly snatching her hand from Lee's and standing up.

"Amanda," acknowledged Billy nodding to her. Francine gave her a small smile.

"You're awake I see. How are you feeling?" asked Billy going over to Lee.

"Oh just fine," replied Lee sarcastically. "Can't you tell?"

"Well, this won't make you feel any better I'm afraid," said Billy sighing. "Your contact, Jerry Miller, was found dead in his apartment this morning. He'd been shot twice."

"What?!" exclaimed Lee.

"Yeah, but it seems that he wasn't murdered there. Not enough blood around," supplied Francine.

"That means he was probably killed at ChemiMed. They must have known he had the disk," said Lee almost to himself.

"What disk?" asked Billy puzzled.

Lee briefly explained what happened at the meeting and then stopped as he recalled the man in the corridor. "Wait a minute. I literally bumped into a guy on the hallway just after our meeting. He would have still been there when Miller followed me out. Maybe he had something to do with it."

"Could be. Give me a description and we'll run it through the computer back at the Agency," said Billy. He sighed, "I just wish there was some way to get into that place. Now that Miller's dead we've lost our inside source."

Lee nodded his agreement then Billy looked over to Amanda. "Do you have anything to add Amanda?"

"No, not really. Lee went to see Mr. Miller on his own and I just sat with Conrad until he came back," she answered.

"Oh yes, dear? And who's Conrad?" smirked Francine raising her eyebrows in interest.

"Conrad Barnhill. He was involved in the Mongoose case remember?" interjected Lee in an amused voice.

"Oh that's right," laughed Francine. "I read the file when you got back from London. He was the man who impersonated an international killer but was really a shoe salesman."

"Yeah, well it turns out that he owns half a detective agency now and they've been hired by Tremayne to complete background checks on his staff," Lee informed them.

"He's what?" questioned Billy turning to stare at Lee.

Lee looked back and his eyes narrowed suspiciously as he saw the smile that was starting to appear. "Oh no, Billy," said Lee recognising the look. He shook his head. "No. I know what you're thinking and I won't let Amanda do it. It's too risky."

"Do what?" asked Amanda, her eyes widening.

"I want you to have dinner with Conrad Barnhill," Billy told her. "Find out what you can about Tremayne and his set-up."

"No Billy. There has already been one murder, I don't want her getting involved," said Lee, his voice starting to rise.

Billy looked at him. "She won't be getting 'involved'. It's just dinner with an old friend and we'll put a wire on her so we can hear what's going on at all times. It'll be quite safe." He turned back to Amanda and smiled encouragingly. "So, what do you say Amanda? Are you willing to do it?"

Amanda looked from Billy's expectant face to Lee's angry one and back again. "Yes Sir, I'll do it."

Billy beamed at Amanda and then turned to Francine. "Take Amanda back to the Agency and get started on arrangements. Try to set it up for tonight."

Francine nodded and motioned for Amanda to follow. Amanda hesitated slightly and glanced at Lee who folded his arms and glared back at her. She smiled at him and said goodbye but he averted his gaze in silence. Amanda looked down, sighing quietly and left the room with Francine.

As soon as the door was closed Billy turned to Lee. "Amanda's only doing what I asked her to Lee. You shouldn't be so hard on her. It is only a simple dinner after all."

"I just don't want her to get into trouble Billy," Lee retorted. "These guys are serious. They've already killed one person and I don't want Amanda near anyone that could lead her into that sort of danger." His voice rose. "Dammit, she's my partner, Billy and it's my job to look out for her not anyone else's."

Billy couldn't resist smiling to himself. Sometimes he couldn't quite believe how much Lee had changed over the last few years. It was a good change though and mostly due to Amanda. He did wonder at times how she put up with the troublesome agent for this length of time without one of their 'disagreements' causing her to leave the Agency. Lord knows he wouldn't have blamed her. He knew from personal experience just how hard it was to handle him.

"Now Lee," soothed Billy. "I understand how you feel, but we have to be practical." He stopped to watch Lee struggle out of bed and walk slowly over to the closet. "And just what do you think you are you doing?"

"I'm getting out of here," he replied, turning to frown at Billy. "Do you honestly think I'm going to just lie here waiting to find out what happened?"

"Lee you're in no fit state to leave today and you know it," Billy tried to convince him.

"I'm just fine," Lee stated, emphatically. He retrieved his clothes and slowly made his way back to the bed, sitting down on it heavily.

"Good God man, you can hardly walk! What use are you going to be and since when don't you trust me to look after things?" asked Billy getting angry.

Lee sighed and tiredly ran his fingers through his hair as he lay down again. He frowned unhappily as he pictured Conrad having dinner with Amanda. "It's not you that I don't trust Billy."

"What?" Billy stared at him in confusion and then slowly started to smile as realisation dawned. "Oh, I see," he commented in an amused tone. "You don't want Amanda to go to dinner alone with Barnhill do you?"

Lee's head snapped up as he wondered if he'd given his feelings away. "I don't know what you mean," he said evasively.

"Oh, I think you do." Billy continued to smile and walked over to him. "Alright, I'll make a deal with you. If you take your medication with no argument, I'll arrange for you to leave today."

"Billy," groaned Lee in frustration.

"No arguments, Scarecrow," warned Billy. He walked to the door and opened it. "You can come in now," he said to someone outside.

Lee groaned louder when he saw the Scottish nurse enter the room. "Great," he mumbled to himself as he glared at her.

The nurse smiled back at him pleasantly and put down the tray she was carrying then lifted off the cover to reveal a hypodermic needle underneath. "I thought this would be better for you since you wouldn't take the tablets."

Lee swallowed and paled. "Oh no, you're not going to stick that thing in my arm," he said defiantly.

"Och, of course I'm not, Mr. Stetson," she replied quickly checking the needle. Turning her attention back to him, she smiled sweetly. "Turn over please."

END CHAPTER FIVE


	6. Near Miss

CHAPTER 6 – Near Miss

Amanda followed Francine into Billy's office and sat down. She tried to concentrate on what Francine was telling her but her mind kept wandering back and forth between the way Lee had acted and how happy Conrad had sounded on the phone that she'd actually rung him. She felt extremely guilty about leading Conrad on like this but she tried to console herself with the fact that it was important to the case for her to go through with it.

Lee, on the other hand was a different matter. She knew he was ill but did he have to be so mean? She just didn't know where she stood with him from one moment to the next. That was part of the attraction she acknowledged to herself, but also the part that confused her the most. His coldness after her agreeing to meet Conrad had made her almost believe he was jealous about it all. But then her practical side took over and she knew it was just because he was in hospital. There was no way he'd be jealous of someone like Conrad.

"Amanda, are you listening to me?" Francine asked in exasperation, bringing Amanda back to the present. "This is very important."

Amanda stared at her and blinked a couple of times. "I'm sorry Francine," she answered, smiling apologetically. "What were you saying?"

Francine sighed and pasted a false smile on her face. 'Why me?' she thought to herself in disgust. She would never understand why Lee put up with Amanda. He didn't used to be so tolerant. Suddenly a horrifying thought struck her. Was there was something going on between them? She was seriously contemplating it for a moment until she ran a critical eye over the woman seated in front of her and smirked. 'No, that couldn't be it,' she thought dismissively. She knew Lee's type well enough and Amanda King wasn't it at all.

"Francine?" prompted Amanda. "What were you saying?"

Francine mentally shook herself and after another fake smile proceeded to tell Amanda about the set up for that evening.

They had just finished when Billy walked into the office. "Is everything set?" he asked.

"I think everyone knows what to do," Francine replied.

"Yes Sir," agreed Amanda. "Connie's picking me up at 7.30 tonight."

"Good," approved Billy with a smile. "Hopefully we can get some information from him."

Amanda nodded and walked towards the door. "Well, since we're finished here I think I'll go back to the Q-Bureau and tidy up a few things before I leave."

Billy nodded. "OK, I'll see you tomorrow for the debriefing."

Amanda left Billy's office and made her way to the Q-Bureau saying hello to Mrs. Marsten on the way. She opened the door and stopped in surprise when she saw Lee.

He looked up from his desk and gave her a small smile. "Hi," he said quietly.

"Lee!" exclaimed Amanda. "What on earth are you doing here?"

"Billy arranged for me to leave the hospital," he replied, grimacing slightly as he stood up and rubbed his hand gingerly over his backside.

An overwhelming feeling of love surged through Amanda as she shut the door and walked over to him with a look of concern on her face. She reached out to help him but remembering how cold he'd been earlier she checked herself and let her arms fall to her sides instead. "I really think you should be sitting down," she commented, turning away.

"Believe me, sitting down is the last thing I should be doing," Lee muttered wryly as he rubbed his derriere.

He followed Amanda over to the window where she stood gazing out at the street below. She could feel him close behind her and had to fight the urge to turn around and step into the warm embrace of his arms.

Lee looked at her rigid back and sighed. He'd hurt her and it was last thing he had ever meant to do. It was about time they got some things sorted out between them. Gently placing his one good hand on her shoulder, he coaxed her around to look at him.

"I feel as though I'm constantly apologising to you," he remarked with a rueful smile. Amanda relaxed slightly and gave him a small smile back, not knowing what to say. "I shouldn't have acted the way I did toward you earlier and I'm sorry," he continued sincerely.

Feeling a little embarrassed, Amanda brushed his words aside. "Oh, you just weren't feeling well. I understand."

"It wasn't just because of that Amanda," said Lee, staring at her intently.

Amanda eyes widened in surprise. "It…it wasn't?"

"No," he replied quietly.

Ever so slowly Lee touched his hand to her face and gently trailed a finger down her cheek to her mouth. She drew in a sharp breath as she noticed his eyes look down and focus on her lips. His intent was clear.

He moved closer to kiss her then stopped and paled. "I can't do this," he whispered, shutting his eyes.

"What?" Amanda whispered back in confusion. "Why not?"

He swallowed hard. "Because I….I think I'm going to…pass out," he answered weakly, starting to sway.

"Oh, Lee!" cried Amanda, making a grab for him as he lost consciousness and fell backwards.

Desperately trying to stop Lee from landing on his injured arm, Amanda grabbed at his shirt. Unfortunately, she got caught up in the momentum of his fall and also went crashing down, landing squarely on top of him. Once she'd caught her breath she lifted herself slightly off of his chest and gently tapped his cheek to try to rouse him.

"Lee?" No response. She tapped harder and he slowly opened his eyes. "Are you alright?" she asked in concern.

Lee put his hand to his head. "I…I don't know," he replied faintly.

Just then the Bureau door opened and Amanda looked up in surprise, giving a quiet groan when she saw who it was.

Francine's initial look of shock at seeing them sprawled on the floor soon changed to one of mockery. "Well, well, well," she commented with a knowing smile. "This certainly looks cosy but wouldn't the couch be more comfortable?"

"Oh Francine, please," groaned Lee finally coming around and not in the mood for her comments. "I'm not feeling very well."

Red faced, Amanda disentangled herself from him then stood up and smoothed down her skirt and blouse. "That's right, Francine," she agreed. "Lee passed out and I was just trying to break his fall."

"Passed out?" repeated Francine in concern. Her sarcasm forgotten, she entered the room and bent down along with Amanda to help Lee back to his feet.

"Thanks," said Lee as he took a deep breath. His face was ashen and he still swayed slightly. Amanda and Francine guided him over to the couch on the far side of the room and helped him lie down.

Francine stood back watching silently as Amanda perched on the edge of the couch next to him and took his hand in hers.

"Do you want me to get you a doctor, Lee? " asked Amanda worriedly, reaching out and gently smoothing back his hair.

"No. No, I'm feeling better now," he replied. His face was beginning to get some colour back and he smiled at her tenderly.

Francine cleared her throat and they both looked up at her as though they'd forgotten she was there. "Billy sent me to get you, Lee. He wants you to give the description of the man you saw at ChemiMed to Donnelly so that we can run an ID check." She frowned. "Seeing that you're not well though, I'll go and tell him that you'll do it later."

"No, that's OK Francine." Lee eased himself up to a sitting position. "Just give me five minutes and I'll come down."

Francine nodded and left the room.

"Lee, you need to go home and some rest," began Amanda as soon as the door was shut.

"I'll be fine Amanda," Lee assured her.

"You passed out," she argued. "That's serious."

Lee sighed and rolled his eyes, knowing he was in for a lecture.

"I don't know why you always insist on doing this to yourself," Amanda continued in exasperation. She got up and walked over to the far side of the room. "Don't you realise that other people are worried about you?"

"Yes, but," said Lee trying to cut in.

"Don't you care what you could be doing to yourself by leaving hospital so early?" she demanded.

"Of course I…," Lee tried again.

"What if I hadn't been here when you fainted? You could have damaged your arm again," she scolded.

Lee stood up, walked over to her and gently took a hold of one of her hands. "But you _were_ here, Amanda," he pointed out quietly. He gazed into her eyes. "And I'm really glad about that," he added with a smile.

Amanda stared at him and felt a warm flush creep up her face. "Well, I…I'm really glad too," she whispered.

Lee squeezed her hand and went to the door. "I have to go downstairs. I may be a while," he looked at his watch. "I guess you'll be gone when I get back." Amanda nodded. "I'll be in the van tonight so don't worry, OK?" he said reassuringly.

"Oh Lee, it's just dinner with Connie. He's harmless. What's there to worry about?"

"Yeah," was all Lee replied before leaving.

As he walked down the corridor, Lee recalled all too well how Conrad had pledged his love for Amanda whilst she 'interrogated' him during the Mongoose case. He hadn't liked it then and he hated it now. He knew that was why he'd been so cold to her in the hospital when she'd agreed to the meet. He was jealous. It was as simple as that, he acknowledged as he punched the button for the elevator. The doors slid open and moving the coats aside he entered. He had a horrible feeling that the dinner tonight was going to be the longest stakeout in his entire life.

END CHAPTER SIX


	7. Jealous Guy

CHAPTER 7 – Jealous Guy

An hour and a half later, Lee had given the description over to Donnelly and was waiting with Billy in the Q-Bureau to see what came of the ID check. He was still getting the odd dizzy spell and he shifted uncomfortably in his chair as he tried to move his aching arm to a better position.

"Are you feeling OK?" asked Billy, noticing Lee's pallor.

"Yeah. Just a little tired," Lee replied.

"Well, that's not surprising under the circumstances. That was a nasty accident," reminded Billy.

"I know it," sighed Lee.

There was a knock on the door and Francine entered carrying a large file. "Well, we've found out who the mystery man was at ChemiMed."

"Who?" asked Lee with interest.

"Trevor Burgess." Francine handed him the file. "He runs a detective agency and just listen to this. Although nothing was ever proved, he was the prime suspect in a murder case only two years ago."

"Really," Lee commented, not surprised.

"Yeah, the press was so bad at the time that people stopped coming to him with work and he was forced to file for bankruptcy about a year ago."

"But you said he still runs an agency. What happened?" asked Billy curiously.

"Well, he managed to get himself a new partner," supplied Francine.

Lee sighed heavily and shook his head. "Don't tell me. Conrad Barnhill, right?"

Francine nodded.

Lee gave a harsh laugh and tossed the file on the desk in disgust. "That's just great, Burgess is working for Tremayne." He shook his head and sighed. "Well, at least Amanda only has to have this one dinner with Barnhill. There's no chance of her meeting Burgess that way. We can't take the risk that he could recognise her from the cocktail party and make the connection to me."

Billy cleared his throat before giving Lee a small smile and getting up from his seat.

At the same time Francine picked up the file from the desk and headed towards the door. "I'll just take this back downstairs," she mumbled.

Lee watched them both suspiciously. "Hold it!" he called out sternly.

They stopped and turned around.

"It _is_ just one dinner, isn't it?" Lee asked apprehensively.

"Well…for the moment, yes," hedged Billy. He glanced at Francine for support but she looked away.

"What do you mean 'for the moment'?" questioned Lee, getting angry.

Billy sighed. "We've instructed Amanda to agree to see him again if he asks," he admitted.

"You've done _what_?" exclaimed Lee standing up. "Well, you're going to tell her _not _to agree now that you know about Burgess, right?"

When Billy didn't answer straight away, Lee walked around the desk to him. "Burgess is a killer, Billy," he bit out.

"We have no evidence to back that up, Scarecrow," pointed out Billy calmly. "As part of security he would have been at the cocktail party anyway and seeing him in the corridor could have just been a coincidence."

"A coincidence! Billy…." Lee began furiously.

Billy ignored him and raising his voice continued, "Now, until we know otherwise, Amanda has an assignment to carry out. I understand your concern but every precaution will be taken to make sure everything runs smoothly and Amanda is protected."

Lee opened his mouth to argue again but Billy raised a hand to stop him. "I haven't time to discuss this with you, Scarecrow." Billy opened the office door and let Francine precede him out. Before following, he turned and said, "Try to look on the bright side, Lee. Barnhill might not even ask to see her again."

"Yeah, right," replied Lee angrily. He watched Billy leave the room and sat back down in his chair. He had a bad feeling about this.

*******************************

Burgess walked angrily into his office and over to his desk. He'd just been to Galilee Hospital and, after producing a false police ID, had managed to find out that the man he'd followed the previous night had already been released.

This wasn't in his plans. He was certain that the man was going to have to stay there for at least a couple of weeks. His injuries had looked serious. Now he had to find the guy quickly and make sure he finished the job properly this time before Tremayne found out.

He pulled a small piece of paper out from his pocket and sat down smiling to himself. At least the nurse had been kind enough to give over a name. Lee Stetson. He snorted derisively. What sort of a name was that?

Suddenly, a loud crash jolted Burgess out of his reverie and he immediately jumped to his feet. A couple of seconds later the door to the adjoining office opened and his partner's head poked through.

"Sorry about that, Trevor," apologised Conrad. "I didn't mean to startle you. I just knocked the lamp off my desk," he explained sheepishly.

Burgess gave Conrad an angry look and sat down again. He didn't want to deal with his fool of a partner right now.

Taking the hint, Conrad gave a small smile and disappeared from sight shutting the door behind him.

Burgess sighed in irritation. 'I'm going to have to arrange a little accident for Barnhill soon', he thought, smiling to himself. His agency was secure again now and he had no further need for him.

Picking up the phone he dialled one of his contacts in the police department. "Hi Tom, I have someone I want you to run a check on for me." He paused and listened before resuming. "Thanks, the name's Stetson. Lee Stetson. I want everything you've got including an address."

*******************************

Amanda nervously attached the wire she had been given earlier and carefully put on her dress. It was a midnight blue colour with a modest round neckline and the skirt fell in soft folds to just below her knees. She stood in front of her mirror and checked all around to make sure the wire didn't show.

Glancing at the clock, she noticed it was exactly seven-thirty. When Amanda had told Dotty she was meeting Conrad that night, her mother had predictably started to ask a lot of awkward questions. Not wanting to go through that again, Amanda decided it would be best to just sit down on the bed and patiently wait for the doorbell to ring. Thirty minutes later she finally made her way downstairs.

"I thought you'd had your watch fixed, Connie" commented Amanda as soon as she opened the door to him.

"I did and I'm sorry I'm late Amanda but I had some stuff to clear up at the office first," he apologised quickly with a smile. Taking in her appearance, his smile broadened. "Wow, you…you look beautiful."

Amanda returned his smile and then spun around to call back into the house. "I'm going now Mother. When the boys get back from Joe's make sure they don't stay up too late."

"Alright Amanda, goodbye, " Dotty called back brightly. She quickly made her way out of the kitchen drying her hands on a towel. "Have a nice time….," she began then stopped when she saw that the front door was shut and the hall empty. "….dear."

Dotty sighed then, shaking her head in resignation, muttered out loud, "It was nice to have seen you again, Conrad."

xxxxxxxxxxxxx

Lee, Francine and fellow agent, Larry Bishop sat in a van a little way down the street from Amanda's house and watched as Conrad rang the doorbell. Larry was in control of the tapes and had set them recording as soon as Conrad had come into sight.

"So that's Conrad Barnhill," commented Francine, putting down the binoculars she'd been using to get a closer look. She glanced sideways at Lee before baiting him. "You didn't tell me he was so cute."

Lee snorted derisively. "Cute?" He gestured towards the binoculars. "You know, after all the training you've had, I'd have thought you would know how to get those things into focus by now."

Amused by Lee response, Francine picked up the binoculars and peered through them again. "You know Lee, you're right," she agreed with exaggerated sweetness. Taking the glasses away from her eyes, she turned to him and grinned before goading, "Now I've had a clearer look I can see he's actually quite handsome."

"Oh please," he muttered jealously, looking away.

Francine turned her attention back to the couple across the street. "Oh, what a perfect gentleman, Lee. He's escorting Amanda by the arm to his car and opening the door for her," she told him in the same sweet tone.

Lee sighed irritably as Francine continued her commentary. "He's helping her in and now he's giving her a kiss on the cheek."

"What?!" exclaimed Lee, looking up immediately.

"I know what exactly you mean," responded Francine with a resigned sigh. "I'll never understand what men see in her either."

Not wanting to listen to Francine any longer, Lee got up and tapped Larry's arm to get his attention. "Put it on the loudspeakers will you?" he asked gesturing to the tapes. Larry nodded, took his headphones off and flipped a switch allowing the conversation to be heard.

In the car Amanda turned to Conrad. "So, where are we going?"

"Oh, to a nice, cosy, little place I know," Conrad replied.

"Sounds lovely," said Amanda. After a slight hesitation she pressed, "What's it called?" She needed to let Lee and the other's know just in case they lost them.

"Alberto's. It's new. I hope you like it," he said anxiously.

"Oh, I'm sure I will Connie," assured Amanda smiling at him.

He smiled back and they set off on their journey. As they passed the van, Francine quickly got into the driver's seat and started to follow, keeping a reasonable distance between them.

Conrad and Amanda made idle chat until they reached Alberto's about twenty minutes later. Francine parked the van down the road, then got into the back to listen to the conversation with Lee and Larry.

Over dinner, Amanda and Conrad swapped stories about their families causing Francine to lose interest back in the van. "These two are made for each other," she said snidely. "How much more mundane can you get?"

"Be quiet will you Francine," admonished Lee. "We might miss something."

"Yeah, like which aunt's got the worst backache," she retorted.

Before Lee could respond they heard Amanda broach the subject of Conrad's work. "So, how's your job going?"

"Oh fine, fine. We've already found a couple of people that have a shady past," replied Conrad proudly. "One of them was Mr. Tremayne's personal assistant would you believe. I think they've sacked him because I haven't seen him around lately. It's a shame because Mr. Lambert always seemed such a nice guy, a little nervous maybe, but nice all the same."

In the restaurant, Amanda nodded. "I've heard about the important research they do there, it sounds fascinating."

"Oh it is," agreed Conrad enthusiastically. "I've had a look around the labs and they're really interesting."

"I imagine they are," said Amanda smiling at him. She hesitated slightly before continuing, hating to use him this way. "I'd love to see them myself."

Conrad took the bait. "Really? Well, I could arrange it for you if you like?" he offered.

"You could?" asked Amanda in pretend surprise. "Well, that would be really, very nice of you."

"I'd do anything for you Amanda, you know that," replied Conrad fervently.

In the van, Francine laughed. "Well, well, he sounds eager to please."

Lee's mouth tightened as he tried to control his jealousy which seemed to be getting worse every minute he sat there.

Back in the restaurant Amanda was a little embarrassed. "Oh Connie, that's….thank you."

Conrad smiled shyly and took hold of Amanda's hand. "I was really pleased when you called me today, Amanda." She smiled and seeing her look, Conrad gathered courage and clasped her other hand too. He took a deep breath. "And I want you to know that since the last time we met I've never stopped thinking about you."

In the van Lee couldn't keep quiet any longer. "Oh please, would you just listen to this guy trying to come on to her," he said angrily. "I don't know why he wastes his time. Amanda has never been interested in him."

"Well…I've thought about…you too Connie," came Amanda's hesitant voice over the microphone.

Francine looked at Lee and raised her eyebrows. "Yep, definitely doesn't sound like she's interested to me," she commented sarcastically.

"She's just playing her cover, Francine," the irate agent corrected harshly. This was driving him crazy, he acknowledged miserably. Listening to Conrad saying these things to the woman he loved was worse than he had imagined. A small, malicious smile played on lips as he conjured up the image of him marching into the restaurant and quite forcibly removing Conrad from Amanda's presence. It was an image he wished he had played out when he heard the rest of their conversation.

"You have?" asked Conrad, the surprise evident in his voice. "Well, that's great. You know I always thought there was something going on between you and Lee."

Only Lee noticed Amanda's slight pause before she answered. "Me and Lee? Oh no, there's nothing between us. It's business, just business."

The muscle in Lee's jaw tightened at the strong conviction she put into her denial and he wondered fleetingly, if she had meant what she just said.

"Well, I'm glad to hear you say that Amanda because I really want this to work," they heard Conrad inform her.

Francine smirked at Lee but he pointedly ignored her.

"You want what to work, Connie?" came back Amanda's confused voice.

"Us of course!" he exclaimed.

"Us? Conrad, I think we'd better talk about this," began Amanda, sounding worried.

"Amanda, there's nothing to talk about. I still feel the same as I've always done."

Lee felt his jealousy rise to bursting point. "I don't believe this is happening again," he groaned unhappily.

Francine shot him a puzzled look which rapidly turned to one of shock as they heard Conrad take a deep breath and declare his feelings.

"I love you Amanda King."

END CHAPTER SEVEN


	8. Issues Resolved

CHAPTER 8 – Issues Resolved

Sitting in the restaurant, Amanda looked across at the earnest face of Conrad Barnhill and sighed. Somehow she had known this was going to happen. Giving him a small smile, she carefully pulled her hands from his grip and said, "Well, thank you Conrad. And I want you to know that I love you too…."

Before she could say anything else, Conrad interrupted her. "You do?" he exclaimed in delight and grabbed hold of her hands again. "That's just great…"

Outside in the van, Lee sat motionless as Amanda's reply slowly sank into his shocked brain.

"Isn't that nice," remarked Francine. "I think I can hear the sound of wedding bells."

Unable to stay in the van and listen any longer, Lee got up, opened the door and jumped down onto the pavement. Hunching his shoulders, he put his free hand in his pocket and walked a little way down the street.

"I wonder what's the matter with him," commented Larry.

"Oh, he's probably just getting some air," dismissed Francine.

In the restaurant Amanda was trying to stop Conrad's excited chatter about all the things they were going to do together. "Connie…..Connie…….CONRAD!"

He stopped and looked adoringly at her, "Yes?"

Amanda sighed heavily. "I meant, I love you as a friend, Connie," she explained quietly. She removed her hands from his again and looked away. "I'm sorry."

Outside, Francine gave a snort of disbelief, "What is the matter with that woman? I mean, who is she waiting around for?"

Back in the restaurant, Conrad was crushed. "A…a…friend?" he repeated unhappily. He forced a smile. "Oh gosh, I feel such a fool."

"Oh, come on now, Conrad, you're not a fool," she gently admonished. "You're a very nice man and I'm flattered that you feel that way about me. It's just that…," she faltered to a stop, not knowing how to finish

Conrad gave her a small smile. "That's alright Amanda. I understand."

She smiled back. "Look, it's getting awfully late and I really have to be up early tomorrow. Do you mind if we go now?"

"Sure."

After Conrad paid their bill, they exited the restaurant and got into his car. Francine leaned out of the van and called for Lee. He hesitated a moment before climbing back in and almost immediately asked Larry to turn the speakers off. "I've got a bad headache," he lied, not wanting to hear any more of the conversation. Larry obliged and they made their way back to Amanda's house.

Conrad walked Amanda to her door and they made arrangements to meet the next afternoon so that he could show her around the labs at ChemiMed. They were still friends after all, and he had promised.

He gave her a quick peck on the cheek and she waved him off before entering her house. In the van, Larry turned off the recorder and began to rewind the tapes.

"Well, that's another night over," said Francine. She turned to Lee. "I'll drop Larry back at the Agency and give you a lift home."

Lee looked longingly at Amanda's house. He really wanted to go over and talk to her but he knew that he wouldn't be able to explain it to Francine. "Thanks," he replied.

They dropped Larry at the Agency and drove the short distance to Lee's apartment in silence. Francine pulled up outside and turned to him. "You're very quiet," she observed. "How are you feeling now?"

"I ache all over," he admitted wearily. In truth, he wasn't quite sure what was hurting the most, his physical pain or his emotional one.

Francine gave him a sympathetic look then laughed. "You know, it's a shame you left when you did. You should have heard Amanda telling Conrad that……"

"Francine, please," broke in Lee forcibly. "I'm not interested, OK? I just want to go and get some sleep."

"OK," she replied giving him a hurt look.

Lee got out of the car and walked up the path to the door of the building. Francine wound down her window and called after him, "Do you want a lift in tomorrow morning?"

He turned. "Yeah, thanks."

They said their goodbyes and Lee went up to his apartment. He got undressed and slipped the sling off his arm, flexing it slightly. It was still aching but he hoped that it would be easier the next day.

Once in bed, sleep was elusive. Even though his body was tired, Amanda's declaration of love to Conrad kept repeating itself over and over in his head. He tried to tell himself she was just playing her cover but he knew that Amanda would never say anything like that unless she truly meant it. How could he have been so wrong about her?

He'd been so sure that Amanda felt the same way as he did. He turned onto his side with a heavy sigh and closed his eyes, determined to put the torturous thoughts out of his mind and get some sleep.

Ten minutes later Lee angrily threw the covers off and got up. He'd never get to sleep tonight after what happened. He padded into his kitchen and made himself a cup of coffee before heading into the living room and sitting down on the couch.

As he sipped his drink his mind wandered back to all the times he'd pushed Amanda away in the past. Hell, he'd even pushed her away that very morning. He shook his head derisively. "You've got no one else to blame but yourself, Stetson," he said aloud.

Wearily he pushed his hand through his hair and put down his drink. He let his head drop back and stared at the ceiling. It was going to be a long, long night.

xxxxxxxxxxxx

Lee was writing a report when Amanda entered the Q-Bureau early the next morning. He'd had an unhappy, sleepless night but was determined to not let his hurt feelings show. As far as he was concerned, Amanda had made her decision and he was going to be just fine with it.

Unfortunately, one glance at her radiant face had him clenching his jaw and looking back down in an effort to contain his jealous anger.

"Good morning, Lee," Amanda said brightly, with a smile.

"Hello," he mumbled back, not looking up.

She walked over and perched on the corner of his desk. "I see your arm's out of the sling. You must be feeling better today."

"Yeah." He continued scribbling.

Amanda frowned slightly at his mood, then tried again. "Well, that was quite a night, last night, wasn't it?"

She noticed him pause in his task and tighten his grip on the pen. He shot her a disdainful glance, then looked back down. "Yeah, you and Barnhill hit it off real well, didn't you?"

"Well, of course," agreed Amanda. "We're good friends."

"Good friends, Amanda?" Lee looked up at her, the rage evident in his eyes. "I'd say it sounded a little more serious than that, wouldn't you?"

Determinedly ignoring his look, she smiled. "Oh, you must be talking about what Connie said to me."

Seeing her smile made Lee want to hit something. He slammed down his pen instead. "Yeah, among other things," he muttered bitterly.

Amanda didn't like his tone. "Now look, I can't help how Connie feels about me," she told him, standing up. She placed her hands on her hips and glared at him, her own temper starting to flare.

"Oh, I know..." began Lee heatedly.

"And, I think I made my own feelings very clear last night too," continued Amanda angrily.

"That you did, Amanda," agreed Lee, his voice rising as he also stood. He glowered down at her. "Believe me, you were very, _very_, clear."

"Then why are you angry?" she asked, refusing to be intimidated by him. "I thought you'd be pleased."

"Pleased?" shouted Lee in disbelief. "Why would I be pleased? I was under the impression that you and I had agreed to see more of each other."

"We have," cried Amanda in bewilderment. She frowned, not quite sure where this was leading. "That's not going to change just because of what was said."

"What?" exclaimed Lee, aghast. He couldn't believe this was Amanda talking. It appeared that she was intending to see both of them. His mouth tightened as he tried to contain his fury. "Don't you think that's a little unfair to _Conrad_?" he ground out sarcastically.

"No. I told Connie exactly how I felt last night. My feelings for him will never change," Amanda stated, her strong conviction evident in her voice.

"So, you plan to see both of us then," verified Lee, outraged.

"Well of course," confirmed Amanda. She couldn't understand why Lee would mind her seeing a friend. "I'm surprised you even asked me a question like that."

Lee had finally reached the boiling point. "You honestly think that I'm going to stand by and watch you go out with Barnhill one night and me the next?" he spluttered. "Or were you thinking more along the lines of having him over for a cosy dinner and popping outside to see me in between courses?" he added insultingly.

Amanda looked at him in open-mouthed shock. "What is wrong with you?" she gasped having no idea where all his anger had come from. "Didn't you hear what I said last night?"

"Yes, Amanda, I heard," he sneered. "I heard you loud and clear." He turned away, unable to look at her any more. It hurt too much. "You said you loved him," he finished in a small hurt voice.

Amanda stared at his back. She saw his head drop and heard him take a deep breath as he ran his hand dejectedly through his hair. She frowned, feeling very confused. He was acting like he hadn't heard the rest of the conversation. Suddenly, her eyes widened as she remembered that Conrad had butted in and stopped her from talking. What if Lee hadn't heard the rest of it? She knew how jealous he got, maybe he'd turned the speakers off. That would explain his irrational anger.

"Lee?" She saw his back stiffen and his head snap back up. "Why don't you tell me what else you heard me say to Connie last night?"

Lee sighed, but still kept his back to her. "It doesn't matter Amanda," he stated unevenly. "I heard the important part."

Amanda sighed, then slowly walked over and stood in front of him. When he refused to look at her, she reached out and put her hand under his chin, lifting his head slowly until their eyes met.

"No Lee, the important part was when I told Conrad that I loved him…as a friend," she informed him quietly, dropping her hand.

"What?" he whispered, taken aback. "But…I thought…" He faltered to a stop, the confusion showing in his eyes as he stared at her intently, desperately wanting to believe it was true. She watched the play of emotions across his face. Realisation, then embarrassment and finally remorse.

"Oh Amanda," he sighed with a shake of his head. He took a couple of steps back, cringing inwardly at the things he'd just said to her in the heat of his temper. "I'm very sorry. When I heard what you said, I just saw red and got out of the van," he explained apologetically.

"I see," she said, staring at him, his words confirming her suspicions.

He looked down, grimacing. "I just couldn't stand to hear any more," he admitted in a low voice. He looked back up at her warmly. "Not when I…." He stopped and looked back down, a warm flush creeping up his cheeks.

"Yes?" prompted Amanda breathlessly.

He raised his head. "Oh God, Amanda, you'll never know just what hell I put myself through last night," he whispered in a tortured voice. "Every time I tried to go to sleep, I kept hearing your voice telling Barnhill that you loved him. Whenever I shut my eyes, I could see the two of you together. I thought I'd lost you."

Amanda quickly covered the distance he had put between them. She knew all too well the night he'd had. Lord knows she'd had a few of them herself over the years. Looking at him standing before her, so contrite and unhappy, all she wanted to do was erase his pain.

Very gently, she placed her hands on his chest and with tantalising slowness, moved them up until both of her arms were locked around his neck. "Oh, Lee," she sighed, smiling softly. "Don't you know yet, that you're never going to lose me?"

Lee hesitated slightly before sliding his hands around her waist and pulling her even closer to him. "I'm not?" he asked quietly.

At the slight shake of her head, his gaze roamed lovingly over her face until, finally, their eyes locked He watched in fascination, as hers darkened with desire until they were almost black. And the more they darkened, the shallower her breathing became. He could almost reach out and touch the air of anticipation that surrounded her.

With excruciating slowness, he bent forward and gently kissed her forehead. Amanda closed her eyes, her lips parting as her breath got caught in her throat.

Lee drew back to look at her again, then, unable to hold himself in check any longer, he groaned and pushed his hand up into her hair, crushing her to him. As his lips found hers, he closed his eyes, finally allowing his pent up feelings a free rein. All his love and fears of the last couple of years were poured into the almost painful kiss.

But it was a kiss that Amanda exulted in. She matched his ardour with a passion of her own. Her arms tightened around his neck, deepening the kiss, as she strained to get even closer to him. She had waited a long time for this moment, overcoming many obstacles along the way, but this one kiss made it all worthwhile. The kiss that proved that he did care.

They broke away, both a little out of breath, and smiled at each other. "I've been wanting to do that for a long, long time," admitted Lee huskily.

"Then why didn't you?" asked Amanda.

"I wasn't sure how you'd react," he replied, gently brushing a strand of hair from her cheek.

"And now that you know?" she questioned, raising her eyebrows.

"Well, I think it may become a bit of a habit." He grinned and bent to kiss her again.

Before he could achieve his goal, they were interrupted by the shrill ringing of the telephone. Lee groaned in frustration. "Typical," he mumbled, reluctantly releasing Amanda to answer it.

She grinned and watched him pick up the receiver. His smile faded as he listened to the person on the other end of the line. "OK, we'll be right down Billy."

"What is it?" asked Amanda as Lee put the phone down.

"They just pulled a body out of the Potomac," he informed her grimly. "He's been identified as Philip Lambert."

"Lambert," repeated Amanda with a frown. "Where have I heard that name before?"

"It was last night, Amanda. Barnhill told you that he thought that Lambert had been given the sack because they'd found out he had a shady past."

Amanda nodded as she remembered the conversation. Suddenly, her mouth dropped open in dismay. "Gosh Lee, do you think he drowned himself because he was found out?"

"I don't think so Amanda," said Lee, holding the door open for her. "He was shot in the chest at close range."

END CHAPTER EIGHT


	9. Preparations

CHAPTER 9 - Preparations

Conrad entered his partner's office and looked around. Seeing it was empty, he walked over to the desk and searched for a piece of paper to write a note to him. Conrad was leaving to meet Amanda soon and he wanted to let Burgess know where he was, in case something came up. Not that Burgess would tell him if any new work came in, he never did.

As he lifted a pile of folders, still looking for a pad, a piece of paper fluttered out of one of them. With a tut, Conrad bent down to retrieve it from the floor and slowly straightened as he read what was upon it. It was Lee's name with, what Conrad supposed was, his address underneath. 'Why would Trevor have Lee's address?' he thought to himself, puzzled.

Just then, he heard the sound of footsteps outside and hurriedly pushed the paper back into a folder, shoving it haphazardly on top of the pile.

The door opened and Conrad straightened, trying to adopt a look of innocence as Burgess walked in. "What the hell are you doing in my office, Barnhill?" Burgess snapped.

"Oh, I was just going to leave you a note, Trevor," replied Conrad, with a forced laugh. "I'm going over to ChemiMed this afternoon to show a friend around the labs."

"So, go," dismissed Burgess, sitting down in his seat. He grabbed the pile of folders, pausing before opening the top one and looked up at Conrad, who hadn't moved from his spot. "I said go," he growled, menacingly.

Not wanting to be told again, Conrad left the room and went back to his own office. He sat down at his desk, picked up the phone and began to dial. Before finishing the number however, he put the receiver down and sighed. 'Maybe Trevor's helping out with a case,' he thought, still wondering about Lee's address. 'That's probably why they were at the cocktail party. I shouldn't get involved,' he decided, a little put out. He would have hoped that Amanda at least, would have trusted him, that's what hurt the most.

Glancing at his watch, he realised that in just another two hours he would be meeting Amanda. Almost immediately, his hurt feelings were replaced by much warmer ones, as he let his mind picture her face. Beaming happily at the thought of spending time with her, he quickly forgot all about Burgess having Lee's address and eagerly left the office. Even though he'd heard what Amanda had said the previous night, he wasn't going to give up hope that maybe, one day, she would change her mind.

******************************************

Back at the Agency, Billy sat in his chair, listening intently to the taped conversation from the previous night. They had just finished going over the Lambert file and having found very little to go on, Billy had decided to start Amanda's debriefing. Francine and Amanda sat opposite him, while Lee leaned casually against the window which looked out over the bullpen.

When the tape reached the part where Conrad professed his love and Amanda's subsequent answer, Billy couldn't help but notice the warm look Amanda and Lee exchanged. He wondered fleetingly, just how serious it was getting between them and made a mental note to let them know sometime soon, that as long as it didn't interfere with their jobs, he was happy for them.

Once the tape finished, Billy turned it off and looked at Amanda with a smile. "You handled the assignment well," he congratulated. "Good job."

"Thank you, sir," she replied.

He leaned back, looking over at Francine, who nodded and handed Amanda a file. "This is all the information we have on Trevor Burgess, Conrad's partner. We think he may have had something to do with Miller's death. Take a good look at his picture and try to avoid him this afternoon if you can. He may recognise you from the cocktail party and remember you were with Lee."

"Oh, alright." Amanda took the file and looked through it, scrutinising the picture of Burgess.

"We really need to find that disk, so see if you can find where they keep their important documents," instructed Billy. "Look out for a guarded room."

"Or a restricted area," added Francine.

"Yeah, but don't try to get into them," warned Lee, sternly. "Somehow, I don't think these guys would ask questions first."

Amanda's eyes widened at his implication but Billy was quick to reassure her. "I'm sure everything will be fine Amanda. Just be careful."

"Yes, sir." She got up and handed the file back to Francine. "I'd better go and get ready."

Lee left the office with Amanda and they walked through the bullpen towards the doors. Halfway across the room, a young woman carrying a stack of files with a mug of coffee balancing on the top, ran straight into Lee. The mug tipped over, causing the hot liquid to spill out and cascade down his shirt and trousers.

Lee gave a cry of surprised pain and stepped back, gingerly tugging at the soaking shirt fabric, only to have it spring back and cling to his chest. "Aghh," he moaned in disgust.

"Oh, I'm SO sorry," exclaimed the woman, mortified. She set down the files on a nearby desk and pulled a handkerchief from her pocket. Before Lee could say or do anything, she began to vigorously dry him off. Amanda folded her arms and watched them in wry amusement.

"Uh, that's OK," said Lee, stepping back again and trying to catch the woman's hands in an effort to get her to stop. "Really, there's no need…"

"This is totally my fault," the woman said, ignoring his protestations and evading his hands. "I wasn't looking where I was going."

Amanda's amusement faded and her eyebrows furrowed in annoyance, as the woman started to move lower. Deciding she'd seen enough, she reached out and snatched the handkerchief from the woman's hands. "I think he's all dry now," she said sweetly, holding out the damp cotton.

"Oh, er, yes, of course," the woman stammered, going bright red and looking from one to the other. With an embarrassed smile, she took the handkerchief, picked up the files and walked off at a brisk pace.

Amanda sighed and turned back to Lee, who couldn't contain his grin at her obvious jealousy. Before she could bestow a suitably tart comment, a nearby secretary called over to him. "Scarecrow, there's a call for you on line one."

Lee walked over and picked up an extension. "Hello....that's great.......thank you, bye."

Amanda raised her eyebrows questioningly.

"That was the garage, my car's ready," he informed her, taking hold of her arm and leading her to the elevator. He pushed the button and the doors slid back. They moved the clothes aside and entered.

"I can drop you off there on my way home, if you like," offered Amanda, as the elevator began to ascend.

"Well, I need to go to my apartment and get changed first." Grimacing slightly, he gestured at his clothing.

"That's OK, I have time."

"You're sure?"

"Yeah, positive," she assured him.

That agreed, they left the Agency and drove back to Lee's home. "I'll be five minutes," he promised, getting out of the station wagon.

Amanda nodded and watched him walk up to the main door of his building. She grinned as he turned before going in and waved at her. She raised her hand back and settled down to wait, letting her mind wander back to the kiss they'd shared earlier. She still couldn't quite believe that it had happened. After all this time, they were finally taking the next step and she just hoped nothing was going to stop them.

Her pleasant thoughts were interrupted when she noticed a beat up, old van, pull over on the opposite side of the road. The door opened and Amanda gasped as she saw Trevor Burgess get out. What was he doing here? Amanda watched as he walked over to stand in front of Lee's building. Not wanting to be observed, she sank down in her seat and noticed that, after a cursory glance around, he entered Lee's building.

Amanda waited until he was out of sight then got out of her car and followed him in. As she entered the foyer, the elevator doors were just sliding shut. Amanda trotted over to the stairs and began to climb them as quickly as she could. She had no idea what she was going to do when she got there but she just had to help Lee.

She wasn't about to lose him now.

END CHAPTER NINE


	10. Interrogation

CHAPTER 10 - Interrogation

Lee had changed clothes and was walking towards the door when there was a knock. Thinking it was Amanda trying to hurry him up, Lee opened the door with a ready smile on his face. "It's OK Aman…," he began, his smile fading as he recognised the man before him.

Lee reached for his gun, but Burgess pulled one out first. "Nice and easy," he said, holding out his hand. Sighing, Lee handed over his weapon and raised his hands.

Burgess forced Lee back into his apartment and shut the door behind him. "You weren't as injured in that crash as I thought," he commented in a disappointed tone. "I was hoping I wouldn't have to worry about finishing you off."

"Well, I'm sorry to be such an inconvenience," retorted Lee sarcastically.

"Don't worry, you won't be for much longer," Burgess replied, confidently. He raised the gun and aimed directly at Lee's head.

Lee stared unflinchingly back at the man, desperately trying to think of something to say or do to stall him. It couldn't end now, not when he had so much to live for.

Just then, there was a loud banging at the door and a woman's angry voice called out, "Michael Sullivan, you open this door right now."

Lee relaxed a little as he recognised Amanda's voice. Burgess gestured to him, but Lee made no response at all. "You've got the wrong apartment, lady," Burgess shouted back, glaring angrily at Lee.

"Don't you dare try that trick with me again, Michael," came Amanda's voice. "If you won't open the door, perhaps this policeman I've brought with me can."

With that, there was more banging on the door. Muttering an oath, Burgess turned slightly and Lee seized his opportunity. Kicking out his leg, he knocked the gun from Burgess' hand. Burgess swore again and turned wrathfully towards him.

Lee faced his adversary, who made a sudden dive for the discarded gun. When he realised Burgess' intent, Lee ran over and just managed to kick it out of his reach before he got there.

As he turned back to Burgess, Lee underestimated the other man's quickness and much to his surprise, was caught squarely on the jaw with a punch. Stunned, Lee took a couple of steps back and raised his hand to wipe away, what he knew from the taste in his mouth, had to be blood. "Why you...," he growled, through gritted teeth. With his right hand, Lee grabbed the man by his shirt and drew back his left to deliver a devastating punch. The man's head snapped back and he slumped into unconsciousness.

Shaking his hand to ease the pain, Lee picked up the gun with his other and walked over to the door, where Amanda was still calling and banging on it. He opened it up and she stepped back, startled.

"It's OK Amanda, he's out," explained Lee, standing back to let her in.

She entered and looked at him in concern. "Are you alright?" Lee was about to answer when Amanda noticed his lip. "No, you're not alright," she exclaimed, horrified. "Look at your poor mouth." She pulled out a tissue and started to dab gently at the already drying blood.

"Amanda, I'm fine," Lee assured her, catching hold of her hand in order to stop her. "He just re-opened the wound from the accident. It's no big deal. It was a lucky punch," he added derisively.

"I can see that," said Amanda, trying not to laugh. Lee grinned back as best he could.

"How did he get your address?" asked Amanda, as the thought suddenly materialised in her head.

Lee shrugged his shoulders. "From what I read in his file and considering his job, he's bound to have a lot of contacts, Amanda. It wouldn't be that hard once he had my name, which he more than likely got from going through my wallet or possibly from some rookie nurse at the hospital."

Amanda shivered slightly as she thought of what a close call Lee had had. He noticed her tremble and seemingly able to read her mind, he wrapped his arms around her, comfortingly. "Hey, thanks to you, I'm fine. You were just great," he praised.

She looked up at him and smiled. Not one for passing up an opportunity, Lee immediately pressed his lips to hers. Amanda moved into his embrace to deepen the kiss but they were disturbed by the sound of a low groan behind them.

Lee reluctantly broke away from her, clearing his throat. "Look, I want to have a little chat with our friend over there. Why don't you use the telephone in the bedroom and call for back-up. Just give me about five minutes."

Still flushed from their kiss, Amanda nodded, but before she could turn to go Lee added, "Oh, and Amanda, when you come back in, just follow my lead OK?"

"OK," she replied.

Once she was out of sight, Lee walked over to Burgess and tapped his cheek until he awoke. Realising Burgess was still groggy from the punch, Lee hauled the man to his feet and roughly sat him down on the couch. Burgess shook his head in an effort to clear it and upon seeing Lee, made to go for him again.

"Uh-uh," said Lee, aiming his gun at him. He pulled back the safety. "Believe me, I WILL use this." Burgess glared menacingly back at him but, seeing that Lee remained unperturbed, he settled back against the couch and folded his arms in a pathetic act of defiance.

"OK, buddy, where's the disk?" asked Lee, getting straight to the point as usual.

"I don't know what you're talking about," replied Burgess, dismissively.

"Oh, come on," derided Lee. "I know it was you who chased me the other night."

Burgess shifted uncomfortably in his seat but still didn't admit anything. "I told you, I don't know what you're talking about," he denied, his voice rising slightly.

"I know you killed Miller," stated Lee, noticing a flush creep up the other man's face. "And Lambert."

"I didn't touch Lambert," Burgess blurted out indignantly. Seeing the satisfied smile spread across Lee's face, Burgess realised what he'd said and paled.

"But you did kill Miller, huh?" queried Lee.

Burgess remained silent and Lee flicked a contemptuous glance over him before leaning forward for emphasis. "You won't be so quiet when I get you back to the Agency. By the time I've finished with you, you'll be begging to tell me everything you know," he promised, smiling grimly.

Lee's quiet threat was delivered in a voice as cold and hard as steel. Burgess swallowed and looked away.

Amanda came back into the room and Lee stood up, looking at her. He raised his eyebrows in a silent question and Amanda nodded back, saying, "There are two men in the area. They should be here in a couple of minutes."

"Good," he said, with a curt nod. He looked at his watch and sighed. "Well, you'd better get going Amanda or you're going to miss your meeting with Barnhill."

Burgess' head snapped up and his mouth dropped open in shock. "B…Barnhill? C…Conrad Barnhill?" he questioned, feeling his stomach drop.

"That's right," confirmed Lee. "He's one of us."

"What?" exclaimed Burgess. He couldn't believe this. Barnhill was a fool. A stupid fool.

"Yeah," confirmed Amanda, quickly overcoming her own surprise at what Lee had just said. She just hoped he knew what he was doing. She didn't want Conrad to get into any trouble. "He's been keeping us informed all along."

Burgess looked hard at Amanda for a moment and realised he recognised her from the party. He'd seen her talking to Conrad just before he'd sought out Miller. Groaning inwardly to himself, he also remembered having caught Conrad in his office earlier. Looking from one to the other, he wondered just how much they knew. He'd been very careful to make sure nothing incriminating had ever been left out in the open.

Lee watched Burgess closely, trying to see if he would break. He had hoped that just mentioning Conrad would have been enough but, with a resigned sigh, he knew as soon as he saw Burgess' face take on a resolute look, that it was going to take more than that to get to him. There was a knock at the door and Lee motioned for Amanda to answer it. She stood back and allowed the two agents waiting outside to enter.

"Take him back to the Agency," ordered Lee, "and watch him carefully."

The two men handcuffed Burgess and took him away. Lee turned to Amanda and ran his fingers through his hair. "Damn it, I thought he'd talk if we mentioned Conrad's name," he moaned in frustration.

"So, what will you do now?" asked Amanda. "Interrogate him?"

"Interview him," said Lee absently, automatically correcting her. He turned away, deep in thought and Amanda checked her watch.

"Well, I'd better get going or I really will be late meeting Connie and getting to the labs," she informed him, starting for the door.

"Wait Amanda," said Lee, grabbing her arm. "I don't want you to go there with him."

She turned and looked at him in surprise. Thinking he was still jealous, she smiled tenderly and reached a hand out, placing it against his cheek. "I thought we'd already sorted this out," she chided softly. "You know how I feel about Connie."

Lee smiled briefly before sobering and taking hold of both her hands. "The reason I don't want you to go to ChemiMed with him Amanda, is because I want you to bring Conrad to the Agency," he admitted quietly. "I have a feeling that if Burgess actually sees him with us, he'll break."

"But, what if Burgess escapes? Connie would be in danger….," began Amanda worriedly, not at all happy with Lee's idea.

"He won't escape and there'll be no danger Amanda," Lee assured her, confidently. "All Conrad will have to do is let Burgess see him and leave. What could go wrong?"

Shaking her head, Amanda gave him a rueful smile. "Connie pretending to be a spy. You're right, what could go wrong?"

END CHAPTER TEN


	11. A New Recruit

CHAPTER 11 – A New Recruit

Amanda contacted Conrad and arranged for him to come to the Agency. Unfortunately, convincing him to 'help' them was proving harder than Lee had imagined.

"I don't want to," exclaimed Conrad, shifting nervously in his chair. He was sitting in the Q-Bureau with Amanda next to him on his left. Lee was sitting on the edge of the desk to his right and Conrad was feeling distinctly trapped.

Lee smiled reassuringly and held up a blue folder. "I've already told you that there's no danger Conrad. All the information you need for the interview is in this file, so there's no need to worry."

"Not for you," Conrad muttered unhappily, staring straight ahead of him.

Lee sighed, slapped the folder back on the desk and looked to Amanda in mute appeal. He'd been trying to convince Conrad to speak to Burgess for fifteen minutes now and his patience was wearing very thin.

Amanda nodded and gently placed her arm on Conrad's hand. "Connie," she began.

Conrad jumped slightly at her touch and shut his eyes briefly as he heard Amanda softly speak his name. 'This isn't fair,' he thought to himself glumly. 'Lee knows I can't say no to Amanda.' He heard her say his name again and lost the fight to keep his eyes averted. He felt his face relax into a smile. "Yes Amanda?" he replied.

Lee got up and grinned to himself. He knew they'd won.

*****************************************

Burgess sat in his chair and stared from the wall, to the guard by the door, to the mirror and back to the wall again. He was getting edgy. He didn't believe for one second that Conrad was a part of all this, he'd been doing the job too long to get caught like that.

The door opened and Burgess looked up. His mouth dropped open as Conrad sauntered in and casually gestured for the guard to leave.

Once they were alone, Conrad threw a red file on the table and sat down opposite Burgess. "Your mouth is hanging open, Trevor. Surprised to see me?" he asked, raising an eyebrow. Burgess shut his mouth and looked away.

Conrad leaned back in his chair, pulled out a cigarette from his pocket and lit it. Through narrowed eyes, he took a long drag then released the smoke. His eyes started to water and he put his hand to his mouth as a coughing fit overwhelmed his body.

Outside the room, looking through the two-way mirror, Lee rolled his eyes. "Oh, God," he said in a resigned tone. "This'll never work in a million years."

Amanda looked at him sternly. "Oh, he's just trying to get into the role."

"He could get 'into the role' simply by asking the questions I told him to, Amanda," Lee pointed out, obviously irritated.

She sighed and looked back through the window. Conrad had recovered, stubbed the cigarette out and was now walking about the room.

Burgess eyed him warily before asking scathingly, "What are you playing at Barnhill? I know you're not a spy. The idea is just ridiculous."

Conrad gave out a loud, false and very nervous laugh. "I agree. It's almost as ridiculous as you saying that you didn't kill anyone."

"I didn't," came the terse reply.

"Oh, come on Trevor," the other man said, cajolingly. "You can tell me the truth. I know all about the chemical deals Tremayne has going. Miller passed on the disk with all the information and you killed him. You then try to kill Stetson. Let's face it Trevor, you must see that when someone else from ChemiMed turns up dead, the obvious answer is that you did it."

Burgess remained unmoved.

Conrad picked up the file that was lying on the table and waved it in front of Burgess' face. "We've found Miller's and Lambert's bodies, Trevor and this is the ballistics report." He opened up the file and took out the piece of paper that was inside. "It makes for very interesting reading. It shows conclusively that the bullets that killed Miller are from your gun. They're still running a check on the ones from Lambert, but I think we both know they'll say the same." He shut the file, then sat back down opposite his partner and tried to gauge his reaction to this bit of information.

Burgess' face visibly dropped as he realised he was caught, but he wasn't going down alone. "Alright," he mumbled unhappily. "I'll admit I killed Miller, but not Lambert. Tremayne took care of that himself."

"Tremayne?" repeated Conrad, he half stood, the shock evident on his face. Suddenly remembering who he was supposed to be, he seated himself and leaned back in his chair. Carefully schooling his features into a disinterested look, he queried, more calmly this time, "So, it was Tremayne?"

"Yes."

Conrad glanced at the mirror and widened his eyes expectantly. Outside, Lee turned to Amanda in triumph. "I'll get Conners in there to take down his statement. You go and get Barnhill out before he says something he shouldn't."

She nodded and Lee walked quickly off. Amanda entered the room with the guard in tow and motioned for Conrad to leave. "Well, how did I do?" he asked as soon as the door closed behind them.

"Oh, you did great, Connie," said Amanda happily. She leaned forward and kissed his cheek. "I'm so proud of you."

He reddened and looked down in embarrassment. "Thanks. You know, I didn't think that the ballistic report gag would work, but you were right." He opened up the file and took out the piece of paper. With a smug smile, he read what was on it - a list of stationery requisitions for the Q-Bureau. "Who'd have thought he'd have fallen for the oldest trick in the book like that."

They both turned at the sound of footsteps and saw Lee and Conners come around the corner. Lee told the older man which 'interview' room Burgess was in and, after nodding a greeting at Amanda and Conrad, Conners entered.

"So, what do we do now?" asked Amanda, as they all started to walk back to the Agency bullpen. Lee was one side of Conrad and Amanda the other.

"Well, now we go and get Tremayne," Lee replied.

"How do we do that? ChemiMed's security is excellent."

"It'll be tough, but if we could get someone on the inside to help us out…."

Lee's words hung in the air as they all stopped walking and the two agents both looked at Conrad expectantly.

His face took on a hunted look as he realised what they wanted. "Oh no! No, no, no. I won't do it. Trying to get Trevor to talk was one thing, but if you think I'm stupid enough to go back to ChemiMed and help you get to Tremayne…." He paused and looked at them pleadingly. "I mean the guy's a killer and…" He stopped again as Lee nodded to Amanda and he felt her hand gently clasp on his arm.

"Now, Conrad," she began in a placating tone. He closed his eyes and groaned. Not again.

Lee grinned and slapped him on the back. "I knew you'd see it our way, Barnhill. Let's go to Billy's office and figure out a plan."

END CHAPTER ELEVEN


	12. Saved By A Rookie

CHAPTER 12 – Saved By A Rookie

An hour after they'd got the information out of Burgess, Lee pulled into one of the empty parking spaces just outside ChemiMed's main doors. Burgess had told them that the last time he'd seen the disk, Tremayne had put it into his desk in his office. All they had to do now was get in and retrieve it.

Lee turned to his two passengers. "You ready?" he asked, looking at first Amanda then Conrad. They both nodded back and he grinned. "OK, lets do it."

They all got out of the car and Conrad led them into ChemiMed's main foyer. "This is Mr. Stedman and Ms. Keene of the National Pharmacy Association," he told the receptionist as he held up his ChemiMed pass. "They've come for a tour of the laboratories."

With a nod, the receptionist handed over two guest passes and asked Lee and Amanda to sign the visitors' book. Once they'd signed, Conrad led them to the lift and they made their way up to the labs.

"Tremayne's office is through the labs, then the second door on the left," Conrad informed them.

"OK, show us around then I'll make some excuse and we'll search the office for the disk," said Lee.

They entered the labs and put on the white coats that were to the side of the door. Conrad introduced them to one of the technicians who then started explaining the type of work he did as he led them around the room.

As they neared a set of double doors, Lee looked over at Conrad, who nodded. Taking his cue, Lee started coughing violently.

"Oh, Mr. Stedman, are you alright?" asked Amanda in fake concern.

Lee shook his head and pointed to his throat. "Water," he gasped.

Amanda turned to Conrad with a horrified expression on her face. "I think he's choking."

"Don't worry, I'll take him to get a drink."

Conrad grabbed Lee, ushered him through the doors and into the corridor beyond. Amanda turned back to the technician and smiled awkwardly. "Shall we continue? I'm sure they'll catch up with us."

The technician looked uncertain for a moment, then nodded his agreement and carried on with the tour.

In the corridor, the two men approached Tremayne's office cautiously. Getting no response after knocking on the door, Lee said to Conrad, "OK, you keep a lookout and I'll check the room."

He entered the office and glanced around. Seeing the desk, he walked over and tried the drawers. Searching through them, he came across one that had a false bottom. A wide grin appeared on his face as he pulled out the disk he'd been handed a couple of days earlier and pocketed it. The smile faded however, when the door to the office suddenly swung open and Conrad walked in.

"Quick, someone's coming!"

Lee ran for the door but he was too late. Groaning, he came to a halt as he saw a young man appear at Conrad's shoulder.

"What's going on in here, Barnhill?" demanded the stranger.

Before Conrad could answer, Lee pulled out his gun and pointed it at them. "Just come in gentlemen and shut the door behind you. Quietly."

Both men's eyes widened but they did as they were told.

"You! Come here!" Lee gestured to Conrad who walked slowly forward. As soon as he was near enough, Lee grabbed him and made a show of frisking him. "Grab hold of my arm and pretend you're fighting me," instructed Lee in a low voice.

Conrad gave a slight nod and went to go for Lee's right arm.

"Not that one," Lee hissed, rolling his eyes. He moved his left arm. " The one holding the gun."

Understanding dawned and Conrad suddenly lunged. They began to struggle and Conrad called out for the other man to help him. As the young man jumped to obey, Conrad let go of Lee's arm and stood back allowing the agent to land a punch to the incoming man's stomach. As the man bent over in pain, Lee provided an uppercut that sent him sprawling.

Conrad went over to the prone figure. "Wow, that was great. He's out cold."

"Good, then we'd better go before he wakes up. I've got the disk, so let's find Amanda and get out of here."

Lee opened the door and peeked out. The hallway was clear. Straightening his tie, he nodded to Conrad and they left the office.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Amanda was getting worried as they neared the end of the tour. She had thought that Lee and Conrad would've been back by now. As she glanced around, her eyes stopped on a figure not four feet away from her. She drew in a sharp breath as she realized it was Tremayne. Just as she was about to look away, he turned his head and caught sight of her. His eyes narrowed and then widened in recognition. Trying to remain calm, Amanda smiled as he walked over.

"It's alright, Clark. I'll finish showing this lovely lady around," Tremayne said, effectively dismissing the technician.

"Yes Sir."

Amanda looked longingly after the retreating figure and then glanced nervously around hoping to catch sight of either Lee or Conrad.

"There's no-one to help you," Tremayne informed her coldly. He moved his jacket aside slightly. Amanda's eyes widened at the brief view of the gun he had in a holster. "Just come with me and don't make a scene." He took hold of her arm and led her out of the lab.

At the other end of the room, Lee and Conrad came through the double doors and looked around for Amanda. Realising she wasn't in the lab, Lee spotted Clark and made his way over to him closely followed by Conrad.

"Excuse me," Lee said, tapping the man on the arm.

Clark looked up and smiled. "Oh, are you feeling better now?"

"Yes, thanks, a drink of water did the trick."

"Oh, good. Did you want me to show you what you missed?" the technician asked helpfully.

"Uh..maybe some other time," Lee replied evasively. "Ms. Keene and I need to get back to the office. Do you know where she is?"

"Yeah, she's with Mr. Tremayne."

"What?!" Lee almost shouted. Pulling himself together, he asked in a calmer voice, "Where did they go?"

"Well, I think he's going to show her the test laboratories. They went through there and that's where the corridor leads," Clark advised, pointing to a door behind them.

"Test laboratories?" repeated Lee in concern.

"Yes, they either turn the chemicals into gas or leave it in liquid form. Then it's tested out on rats and mice to find out the effects."

Lee's stomach knotted as he realised what Tremayne had planned for Amanda. Turning to Conrad, he pulled the disk out of his pocket and shoved it into his hands. "Here, take this and go call Billy straight away," Lee commanded urgently. "Get the back-up teams here now and make sure that Billy gets that disk. I'm going after Amanda."

Before Conrad had time to respond, Lee was out of the room and running down the corridor, gun in hand. Rounding a corner, he slowed to a stop and began to move cautiously towards the four doors he saw in front of him.

The first two he tried revealed empty rooms. On opening the third door, he saw Amanda sitting tied to a chair with a gag in her mouth. Glancing around, he saw that the room was large with white walls and the ceiling had six small vents in it. Lee stood still in the doorway and called out to her. She looked over, caught sight of him and her eyes widened. Immediately, she began to shake her head in warning.

Unfortunetly it was too late. Before Lee could turn around he felt the barrel of a gun shoved into his back. "Drop the gun and put your hands up," came Tremayne's voice.

Lee shot Amanda an apologetic look before letting his gun fall to the floor and raising his arms. Out the corner of his eye he saw Tremayne bend down to retrieve it. Just as the other man was about to touch the gun, Lee kicked out his foot and the weapon slid to the other side of the room. Thinking he'd surprised Tremayne with his move, Lee spun around with a fist raised, ready to strike. He soon realised that he'd underestimated the other man when a gun was levelled with his face.

"Nice try son," patronised Tremayne and gestured towards Amanda. "Now get over there with your girlfriend."

Lee backed up slowly. Tremayne exited the room, pulling the door closed behind him. Lee rushed over as the door slammed shut with a clang, but soon realised there wasn't any handle on their side.

"Damn," cursed Lee before going to Amanda and untying the gag. "Are you alright?" he asked worriedly as he loosened the rest of her bonds.

"Yes, I'm fine."

"Good," breathed Lee, drawing her into a fierce embrace. After a couple of seconds, he released her and picked up his gun. "Now let's see about getting out of here."

Lee turned back to the door. He sighed heavily as he ran his fingers around the rim. "It looks like it's sealed." He banged his fist repeatedly against the metal and yelled out for help.

"No one can hear you, son," Tremayne's voice echoed around the room. "The room is soundproofed."

Lee and Amanda looked about trying to locate the source of the voice. Suddenly the wall to the left of them lifted to reveal a glass partition. On the other side of the window Tremayne sat at a small computer console. Lee immediately took aim with his gun and fired off four shots. The partition remained untouched.

"We have the glass especially made," Tremayne chuckled. "Some of the larger animals get quite agitated when we run our tests on them."

"Just let us go Tremayne. We have the disk and our people are surrounding the building as we speak; you won't get away," Lee informed him angrily.

"Maybe not, but then again, you won't either," Tremayne retorted coldly. He pressed a button with his left hand. A loud clunking noise was heard from the door as the locks engaged Tremayne smiled and pressed another button, causing a hissing noise to begin.

Looking up in alarm, Amanda saw blue smoke start to appear from the vents overhead. Putting one hand over her mouth, she reached out and grabbed Lee's arm with the other. "Gas," she shouted fearfully and started to cough.

Already coughing himself, Lee's stomach churned as the smoke slowly floated down from the ceiling. He desperately looked around the room trying to find something to help them escape.

Tremayne watched the two agents' discomfort with satisfaction and got up to leave. As much as he would have liked to stay and watch their demise he knew he had to get out fast. As he stood up, the door behind him suddenly burst open and Conrad walked in.

"What the hell do you want?" growled Tremayne.

With a sharp intake of breath, Conrad looked past the man to his two friends choking on the gas in the lab behind. Realising the situation, he lunged forward and slammed his hand down on one of the many buttons on the console.

Tremayne let out an angry yell and pulled out his gun. Conrad spun around and grabbed the other man's arm before he could take aim and they began to struggle. Teeth clenched, Conrad held on to Tremayne's arm. They fell against the console, pushing more buttons as their fight continued.

Finally, Conrad managed to knock the gun from Tremayne's hand. He then landed a punch that sent him staggering back. He tripped over a chair and fell heavily to the floor, hitting his head on the way. He was out cold.

Breathing hard from the exertion, Conrad looked through the glass to see if Amanda and Lee were alright. They stood huddled together, but the gas seem to have cleared.

"Are you both OK?" asked Conrad over the intercom.

Lee walked over to the glass with his arm still firmly around Amanda. "Yeah, fine," Lee said, his voice hoarse. "When you were fighting you must have pushed the button that stopped the gas. Thanks."

"Yes, Connie, you did a wonderful job," added Amanda, her voice as affected as Lee's. "I'm so proud of you."

"Thanks Amanda, I'm glad I was here to help...."

"Look, Barnhill, can you just open the door now?" asked Lee, coming to the end of his patience.

"Oh, of course," Conrad exclaimed, going red. He bent his head and looked at the display in front of him. "I think it's this one," he commented before pressing on a button. He looked up expecting to hear the doors unlocking but was horrified to see that he'd set the fire sprinklers going.

"Oh....um...uh...," stammered Conrad, frantically pressing more buttons until he heard the clunk of the locks and looked up at them smiling. "There you go. Stay right there and I'll come round and open it up."

As he disappeared from view, Lee turned to Amanda. Her arms were crossed, her hair was plastered to her head and her clothes were dripping. Lee couldn't help but chuckle knowing he looked pretty much the same. Taking her in his arms, he said, "You know you were right, Amanda."

She looked up at him puzzled. "About what?"

He kissed the tip of her nose and grinned. "With Conrad pretending to be a spy, what could possibly go wrong?"

END CHAPTER TWELVE


	13. Epilogue

EPILOGUE

Two hours later, Lee and Amanda were in fresh, dry clothes and back at the Agency where Billy filled them in on the last few details.

"That guy you knocked out in Tremayne's office is called Joseph Randall," Billy explained. "He was there when Tremayne killed Lambert so we've got Tremayne for murder along with treason and fraud. And that disk was a goldmine by the way. It gave us names and addresses for his contacts both here and overseas. The man hasn't got a leg to stand on; he's going down for good."

Both Lee and Amanda were voicing their pleasure at this news when there was a knock at the door.

"Come in," called out Billy. The door opened and Conrad entered looking a little sheepish.

"Ah, Mr. Barnhill, please have a seat," offered Billy.

"Oh, no, thank you. I just wanted to say goodbye as I'm leaving now," replied Conrad his gaze going to Amanda.

"Well, goodbye Mr. Barnhill and thanks for all your help. If you hadn't stopped that gas when you did I'd have had two dead agents on my hands. You did a good job," praised Billy, shaking his hand.

"Yeah, thanks Conrad." Lee stood and shook hands as well.

Conrad turned to Amanda. "Come on, I'll walk you to the elevator," she said, putting her arm through his.

They left the room, walked slowly through the bullpen, out into the corridor and came to halt by the metal sliding doors. Taking both his hands in hers, Amanda smiled up at him. "It's been lovely to see you again Connie. What are you going to do now though?"

Conrad squeezed her hands and smiled back. "Well, I can't keep the business going on my own so I need to try and get another partner. A friend in Canada said they might be interested so I'm flying out tomorrow."

"I hope they help you out. I'll miss you when you're gone," said Amanda sincerely and leant forward to kiss his cheek.

Lee watched them from the door to the bullpen and gritted his teeth in annoyance as he saw Amanda kiss Conrad. His jealousy where this woman was concerned amazed him. Wanting to break up their cosy chat, Lee walked determinedly over but the elevator arrived before he could reach them. With a final wave Conrad got in and the doors slid shut behind him.

Amanda turned and waited for Lee to come to a halt by her side. "You two seemed to have a lot to say to each other," he began casually.

"Yeah," Amanda agreed on a wistful sigh before pressing for the elevator again.

"I thought you'd said everything there was to say the other night," pressed Lee.

The doors opened and they got in. Amanda pushed the button for their floor then shrugged, "Well, Connie just said he was going to try and do something about the business."

"I see."

"He'd like to carry on with his security agency but it'd be hard for him to do on his own," she explained.

"Uh-huh."

"So, then he asked if I wanted to be his partner," Amanda added nonchalantly as the doors opened and she got out.

"He _what_?!" exclaimed Lee, too stunned to move for a moment.

Mrs. Marsten looked over at him. "I believe this is your floor, Mr. Stetson," she advised calmly.

Realising that he was still standing in the elevator and that Amanda had already left, Lee roused himself and ran up the stairs to the Q-Bureau. Amanda had left the door open and was waiting for him in front of her desk. He walked in and shut the door, then took her in his arms.

"I hope you didn't let Barnhill down 'too' softly," Lee said grimly.

"Who said I let him down?" she asked mischievously and immediately relented when she saw the surprise on his face. Wrapping her arms around his neck, she whispered, "Don't worry, I told Connie I that I already have a partner and that it's not just at work. It's forever."

Warmth flooded through Lee's body at her quietly spoken words and he smiled happily. "Forever," he repeated and sealed his vow with a kiss.

THE END

NOTE: I'd like to thank my beta reader's for all their help. Thanks guys.


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